Relationship of Distress and Quality of Life with Gut Microbiome composition in Newly Diagnosed Breast Cancer Patients: a prospective, observational study

There is little research about the stress, quality of life (QOL) and gut microbiota in newly diagnosed breast cancer patients. We sought to determine the relationship of distress scale and FACT-B different domain and fecal microbial composition among newly diagnosed breast cancer patients. Total 82 newly diagnosed breast cancer patients were enrolled in this prospective, observational study. The mean score of the FACT-B was 104.5 (SD, 19.76). The mean DT score was 4.43, with 53.7% (44/82) of the patients reporting moderate to severe distress (score 5 or above). Several associations between distress, FACT-B different domain and microbial taxa were observed among this sample of breast cancer patients. Specifically, Alcaligenaceae and Sutterella were significantly more abundant in individuals with higher scores on the DT scale at the family and genus level, respectively (p = 0.017), while Streptococcaceae (p = 0.028) at the family level and Streptococcus (p = 0.023) at the genus level were significantly more abundant in individuals with lower scores on the DT scale. This study defines the relationships among stress, QOL and gut microbiota in newly diagnosed breast cancer patients and provides many useful information to find potential probiotics for decreasing stress and improving QOL in breast cancer patients.