Collecting preliminary data from breast cancer patients to help shape the REBECCA mobile app

In November, Breast Cancer Society AMAZONA, one of the REBECCA partners, reached out to its members, breast cancer patients who have undergone primary treatment, to fill out a survey to collect the data needed for the development of the REBECCA mobile application.

The data collected will be used to create algorithms for the REBECCA app, which will be tailored to capture the behaviours and needs of actual breast cancer patients. At the beginning of 2022, breast cancer patients will test the first version of the app on their phones, so that improvements can be made with their feedback.

The survey was completed by over 550 Swedish women and the preliminary results show that:

• Breast cancer patients belong to different age groups, the youngest age group being 30 and the oldest over 75. The majority of the survey participants are aged 66-70. This age distribution is similar to the age distribution of breast cancer patients in Sweden.

• More than 50% of the survey respondents were diagnosed with breast cancer less than 5 years ago and 80% of them have undergone primary breast cancer treatment.

• The majority of survey respondents say that they have experienced one or more symptoms associated with breast cancer recently. The three most common symptoms however are fatigue, osteopenia and neuropathy.

These responses showcase how common these symptoms are for breast cancer patients but also highlight the importance of alleviating them after the primary breast cancer treatment.

This article first appeared on the website of Breast Cancer Society AMAZONA on 24.11.2021. The original version, in Swedish, is available here. The graphs featured have been designed by Breast Cancer Society AMAZONA and translated into English for the publication of this article.