Effects of group CBT on the survival time of patients with metastatic breast cancer

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Abstract
We have recently reported the psychological outcome of a group Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) intervention with patients who had metastatic breast cancer. The data of 92 patients who were retained at the first follow‐up assessment revealed short‐term improvements on measures of mood and self‐esteem amongst therapy participants. These changes were not sustained at the 3‐ and 6‐month follow‐up assessments. This report describes a survival analysis of 121 patients who entered the study, at 5 years after its commencement. The analysis, based on the Cox Proportional Hazards Regression model, revealed no survival advantage associated with the intervention. Only medical prognostic factors such as Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status, visceral metastases and chemotherapy treatment significantly predicted patients’ survival time. The findings of this study are compared with those of two earlier studies which also examined the survival effects of a group psychological intervention with metastatic breast cancer patients. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.