Women With Breast Cancer Who Are Knowledgeable About Their Tumor Characteristics Are More Likely to Receive Guideline-Recommended Treatment
Women with breast cancer who know the characteristics of their tumor are more likely to receive the treatment recommended for their type of cancer, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigators reported in a new study.
The study, published by Freedman et al in the Journal of Oncology Practice, is based on a survey of more than 400 patients who were asked the stage and grade of their breast cancer, whether it tested positive for the HER2 protein, and whether it was sensitive to estrogen.
Study Findings
Patients who correctly reported their breast cancer as HER2-positive were likely to receive chemotherapy, the recommended treatment for that form of the disease. Those who correctly reported their cancer as estrogen-sensitive were likely to receive hormonal therapy, as treatment guidelines advise. And those who correctly identified their tumor stage were likely to receive radiation therapy. By contrast, patients who were less knowledgeable about their cancer were less likely to receive the recommended treatment.
“Previous studies have shown that knowledge about breast cancer in general is poor across many populations, but what isn’t known is whether knowledge of one’s own disease affects one’s receipt of treatment,” said lead author Rachel Freedman, MD, MPH, of the Susan F. Smith Center for Women’s Cancers at Dana-Farber. “For this study, we hypothesized that such knowledge is associated with receiving the recommended therapies. Our findings support that hypothesis.”
She noted that although the link between knowledge and appropriate treatment was confirmed by the study’s results, the direction of that link is unclear. In other words, are women apt to receive the recommended treatment because they’re knowledgeable about their disease, or are they knowledgeable about their disease because they’ve received the recommended treatment?
Dr. Freedman and colleagues are planning a study to answer this and other questions about patients’ understanding of their disease and the decisions surrounding its treatment. “We want to focus specifically on the clinical, emotional, and social consequences of poor knowledge and how information can be delivered to patients more effectively,” she remarked. “The next step will be to test whether efforts to improve patients’ knowledge can lead to better care.”
The content in this post has not been reviewed by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Inc. (ASCO®) and does not necessarily reflect the ideas and opinions of ASCO®.
