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Patients' understanding of their own disease and survival potential in patients with metastatic breast cancer

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Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the effect of understanding their own disease by patients with metastatic breast cancer on their survival potential after being informed by their physician.

Patientsandmethods: Two hundred and fourteen women with metastatic breast cancer who participated in a multi-institutional, randomized phase III trial (Japan Clinical Oncology Group (JCOG) Study 8808) were asked whether they understood their own disease after being given information about the clinical trial. They were classified into two groups on the basis of whether they understood or not. We estimated their survival after the time of registration and derived relative hazard ratios from Cox's proportional hazards model.

Results: There were 190 patients in the ‘better understanding’ group and 24 in the ‘poor understanding’ group. Median survival times after registration were 28.3 and 16.1 months, respectively. The ‘better understanding’ group showed a significant difference from the ‘poor understanding’ group (p=0.016). In multivariate regression analysis, patients who did not understand still showed poorer survival than those who understood (hazard ratio = 2.09; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.16–3.78; p=0.014)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psycho-Oncology Division, National Cancer Center Research Institute East, Japan

    Hitoshi Okamura (Chairman), Akira Kugaya & Yosuke Uchitomi

  2. the Breast Cancer Study Group, the Japan Clinical Oncology Group (JCOG), Japan

    Hitoshi Okamura (Chairman), Noboru Yamamoto, Toru Watanabe, Noriyuki Katsumata, Shigemitsu Takashima, Isamu Adachi, Akira Kugaya & Yosuke Uchitomi

  3. Department of Medical Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital, Japan

    Noboru Yamamoto, Toru Watanabe, Noriyuki Katsumata & Isamu Adachi

  4. Department of Surgery, National Shikoku Cancer Center Hospital, Japan

    Shigemitsu Takashima

  5. Psychiatry Division, National Cancer Center Hospital, Japan

    Tatsuo Akechi

Authors
  1. Hitoshi Okamura
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  2. Noboru Yamamoto
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  3. Toru Watanabe
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  4. Noriyuki Katsumata
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  5. Shigemitsu Takashima
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  6. Isamu Adachi
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  7. Akira Kugaya
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  8. Tatsuo Akechi
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  9. Yosuke Uchitomi
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Okamura, H., Yamamoto, N., Watanabe, T. et al. Patients' understanding of their own disease and survival potential in patients with metastatic breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat 61, 145–150 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006491417791

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006491417791

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