Electronic Intervention Improves Quality of Life in Younger Breast Cancer Survivors

Among adolescent and young adult (AYA) breast cancer survivors, the mobile health intervention Young, Empowered and Strong, or YES, was associated with improvements to general and cancer-specific quality of life and a reduction in burdensome symptoms after six months, according to research presented at the 2025 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS).

Findings from the YES clinical trial showed that, among 360 breast cancer survivors, at six months those who utilized YES (179 patients) reported a Quality of Life in Adult Cancer Survivors (QLACS) general summary score of 77.6, compared with a score of 78.1 among those who received usual care (181 patients). As detailed in a press release issued Friday morning by the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, at baseline, the mean QLACS scores for general and cancer-specific quality of life were 86.3 and 52.5 in the YES arm and 79.7 and 48.9 in the usual care arm, with higher QLACS scores indicate poorer quality of life.

By six months, mean QLACS scores for general quality of life had decreased by 8.7 points in the YES arm and 1.6 points for patients in the usual care arm, while mean cancer-specific quality of life scores decreased by 7.8 points in the YES arm and by 3 points in the usual care arm.

“YES is a scalable [mobile] health intervention that improved general and cancer-specific quality of life and reduced some burdensome symptoms at six months in our adolescent and young adult survivors,” said Dr. Ann H. Partridge, founder and director of the Program for Young Adults with Breast Cancer at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, in the press briefing. “This represents a novel paradigm for supporting patients without clinician involvement, for the most part, in the survivorship period and thus it represents a very, potentially scalable public health effort for harder to reach populations who are very, very busy, can't get into the clinic and or can't very easily access the clinic.”

YES Study Design and Patient Characteristics

Patients were enrolled at three sites — Dana-Farber (190 patients), The Ohio State University (118 patients) and Columbia University Medical Center (52 patients) — and, in order to be eligible for the trial, had to be female, age 15 to 39 at the time of being diagnosed with stage 0 to 3 breast cancer, less than three years from the end of active treatment, have no evidence of breast cancer recurrence and speak English.

“Adolescents and young adults with breast cancer, these patients and survivors experience substantial symptoms and concerns. … Beyond causing distress, these symptoms and concerns may influence longer-term decisions, including adherence to lifesaving adjuvant therapy and optimal health behaviors and follow up care and thereby impact not only quality of life, but disease and survival outcomes,” said Partidge. “Serial monitoring, using electronic patient reported outcomes or ePROs with clinician monitoring has improved outcomes for adults, predominantly those receiving chemotherapy or at later stages with advanced cancer.”

Patients were a median of 18.9 months since diagnosis, and at diagnosis most — 171 patients, or 47.5% — were age 35 to 39. The majority of patients — 290, or 80.6% — were White and 320 patients, or 88.9%, lived in urban areas. Most patients had stage 1 (124, or 34.8%) or stage 2 (135, or 38.2%) disease at diagnosis, were ER/PR positive (266, or 74.5%) underwent bilateral mastectomy (156, or 43.8%) and received chemotherapy/biological/immunotherapy (276, or 77.3%).

The YES portal entailed monthly electronic patient-reported outcomes regarding symptoms, AYA concerns and assessments as well as a chat room and a journal function.

“The intervention was designed to engage and activate patients to self-manage symptoms and concerns, empowering them to contact their clinical team for unmet needs or concerns or symptoms,” said Patridge. “… The goal was to reduce feelings of isolation and reduce stress and thereby potentially improve our outcomes.”

References

1. “Randomized controlled trial of Young, Empowered & Strong (YES), an mHealth intervention for adolescent and young adult breast cancer survivors” by Dr. Ann H. Patridge, presented at: 2025 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; December 9-12, 2025; San Antonio, TX.
2. “Mobile Health Tool Helps Improve Quality of Life For Young Breast Cancer Survivors,” news release, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Dec. 12, 2025; https://www.dana-farber.org/newsroom/news-releases/2025/mobile-health-tool-helps-improve-quality-of-life-for-young-breast-cancer-survivors

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