EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS IN YOUNG ADULTS AGED 19 TO 24 YEARS WITH BREAST CANCER: AN EXPLORATORY REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE BETWEEN 2015 AND 2020

Abstract

With the growth and aging of the population, along with economic growth and changes in lifestyles associated with increased quality of life, the main burden of disease shifted from infectious diseases to noncommunicable and complex diseases. However, it is cancer that has increased its incidence in the world population, especially in low- and middle-income countries, where 70% of cancer deaths occur.  The research is articulated to sustainable development goal three, in particular on the effect of cancer on cognitive functioning, because cancer pain impairs cognitive functioning. A simple review for executive functions and breast cancer in PROSPERO indicated an absence of reviews on this topic. Reason why, our aim is to describe executive functions and treatment effect by chemotherapy/radiotherapy in young adult breast cancer patients between 2015 and 2020 in the scientific literature. Materials and methods: exploratory literature review according to PRISMA protocol for exploratory reviews. Articles published in Scopus, PubMed, ScienceDirect, scielo, google academic, in Spanish, English, French. With the keywords: ("Executive Function") AND ("Neoplasms") OR "breast cancer" OR "Drug Therapy," AND ("Young Adult"), searches were performed until February 4, 2020.

Results: 16 articles included in the review. Clinical and methodological heterogeneity was found on patients' executive functions and treatment. However, we did find executive function impairment among patients assessed by both treatment and cancer.

Conclusions: A systematic review on the subject and meta-analysis are suggested to identify the effect size, accompanied by the statistical evidence identified in the studies. Colombia could investigate this topic because there is no Colombian research.