Newswise — A new Mississippi State research program is seeking to provide a better understanding of how chemotherapy affects everyday activities of women.
With support from a $70,000 National Institutes of Health grant, psychologists at the university's Social Science Research Center want to determine if the breast cancer treatment has a lasting effect on cognitive abilities.
Over the next year, they will study a group of some 100 women, half of whom have had chemotherapy treatments for breast cancer and half of whom haven't. The MSU team will compare performances as measured by a series of standardized instruments including a test of driving-related abilities developed by researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
"We chose breast cancer patients because of the consistency in regimens for chemotherapy," said Carolyn Adams-Price, principal investigator and associate professor of psychology. Study participants—recruited with assistance from North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo and a Starkville-area clinic—will be tested at MSU and at NMMC, she added.
Adams-Price is collaborating with Linda W. Morse, MSU professor of educational psychology; psychology professor Elisabeth Wells-Parker, co-director of the SSRC and MSU's Rural Health, Safety and Security Institute; Marsha Williams, research associate; and Patty Dill, postdoctoral fellow at the SSRC.
Professors Karlene K. Ball and Virginia G. Wadley of UAB's Center for Research in Applied Gerontology are providing expertise. Ball is center director; Wadley, assistant director.
"Research has shown that chemotherapy can cause lasting cognitive deficits, but we don't know if those deficits are associated with problems in everyday functioning," Wells-Parker explained.
Some deficits found in chemotherapy patients also may be associated with age, a factor the researchers also will consider. To find out, they will employ the UAB-developed measure of visual information processing known as the Useful Field of View, or UFOV.
"UFOV measures the ability to pay attention to things around you," Adams-Price said. "It is an excellent predictor of driving capabilities in older adults."
UFOV provides the ability to assess skills associated with driving in an interactive computer format. UAB is using the technology to determine if cognitive training can enhance driving performance in older adults.
Because driving is a common task, the MSU team will adapt the approach to learn if cognitive skills required to drive are affected by chemotherapy. With that information, they hope to seek additional funding to significantly expand the scope of the study.
"Some cognitive deficits, especially those related to driving, may be retrainable," Adams-Price observed. "There are some very promising training programs that address these issues."
She said the pilot study is only one step toward understanding chemotherapy's long-term effects. Whatever the results, Adams-Price said, "It will provide additional information to help women make informed decisions about chemotherapy."
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