Background Chronic fatigue is a feature in a subset of women successfully treated for breast cancer but is not well characterised. This study examines differences in objective cognitive function, activity levels and sleep in disease-free women who do and do not meet criteria for cancer-related fatigue syndrome (CRFS).

Methods Women between 3 months and 2 years after completion of any primary therapy were recruited from a cancer centre follow-up clinic. On the basis of a diagnostic semi-structured interview they were classified as being CRFS cases or non-fatigued controls. Participants underwent objective cognitive testing using a computerised battery, wore an activity monitor for 1 week and completed quality of life and fatigue questionnaires.

Results 114 women were recruited (69 controls and 45 CRFS cases). There were significant differences between groups on fatigue, mood, sleep and quality of life scores, and in objective cognitive testing (tests of sustained attention, reaction time and verbal memory all p<0.03). There was an overall difference in daytime activity (p=0.03) from actigraphy recordings. There were no differences on objective measures of sleep or in routine laboratory measures.

Conclusions Our preliminary results suggest that disease-free women with CRFS after successful breast cancer treatment have significantly lower subjective quality of life and mood. Additionally, objective cognitive impairment in certain domains may play an important role in the subjective manifestation of these symptoms. There is also objective evidence on actigraphy of differing levels of activity. The subjective sleep disturbance and higher prevalence of insomnia do not correlate with objective measures.