Community-Based Use of Chemotherapy and Hormonal Therapy for Early-Stage Breast Cancer: 1987-2000

2006 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 872-877 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda C. Harlan ◽  
Limin X. Clegg ◽  
Jeffrey Abrams ◽  
Jennifer L. Stevens ◽  
Rachel Ballard-Barbash

Purpose We describe trends in the use of chemotherapy and hormonal therapy by nodal and estrogen receptor (ER) status in women with early-stage breast cancer. Methods Cases were randomly sampled from the population-based Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program and physician verified treatment was examined. A total of 9,481 women, aged 20 years and older, diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer in 1987 to 1991, 1995, and 2000 were included in the study. Results The use of chemotherapy plus tamoxifen increased between 1995 and 2000 for women with node-negative, ER-positive breast cancer ≥ 1 cm (8% to 21%). Nearly 23% of women with node-negative and ER-positive tumors ≥ 1 cm received no adjuvant therapy. The use of chemotherapy alone increased to nearly 60% in women with node-negative, ER-negative tumors ≥ 1 cm (48% to 59%). However, in 2000, 16% of women with node-positive and ER-negative tumors received no adjuvant therapy and an additional 6% received tamoxifen alone. The influence of age can clearly be seen. Chemotherapy is given much less often in women 70 years or older. Conclusion The results from SEER areas across the United States suggest that physicians quickly responded to publications and guidelines regarding breast cancer therapy. The lack of definitive findings from clinical trials on the use of adjuvant therapy in women 70 years and older may explain the lower use in this group of women.

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e12051-e12051
Author(s):  
Tal Sella ◽  
Gabriel Chodick

e12051 Background: Adjuvant hormonal therapy has been consistently proven to improve multiple outcomes in early breast cancer. Nonetheless, data on rates of adherence and persistence with therapy outside West Europe and North America are scarce. We assessed the adherence and persistence with adjuvant hormonal in a retrospective population based cohort of breast cancer survivors in Maccabi Health Services (MHS), Israel. Methods: We identified women who were diagnosed with breast cancer and initiated adjuvant hormonal therapy between January 2000 and November 2008. Subjects were followed retrospectively from first dispensed tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitor (AI) and up to the earliest of the following events: disease recurrence (indicated by surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy or other related therapies), leaving MHS, death, or completion of 5 years of treatment. Discontinuation of therapy was defined as a 180-day or longer treatment gap. Adherence with therapy was assessed using proportion of days covered (PDC) during follow-up period. Survival analysis was used to determine the effect of adherence on all-cause mortality. Results: A total of 4178 women with breast cancer were followed for a median 7.8 years. Over 90% of patients received tamoxifen as the initial hormonal agent. Mean PDC was 84% with lower rates associated with younger age, smoking status, comorbidities and year of diagnosis. Residential area did not affect adherence. Differences were not found. Discontinuation of therapy occurred in 23% of study patients. Among persistent patients, 70% were optimally adherent with therapy (PDC>=80%). Association between adherence with therapy and survival is investigated. Conclusions: Adherence to adjuvant hormonal therapy among Israeli breast cancer patients with national health insurance is high in comparison to international reports. Nevertheless, suboptimal adherence was identified among younger (<45y) patients. Because of the efficacy of hormonal therapy in preventing recurrence and death in women with early-stage breast cancer, interventions are necessary to identify and prevent suboptimal adherence among high risk subgroups.


2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (29_suppl) ◽  
pp. 78-78
Author(s):  
Nicholas L. Berlin ◽  
Adeyiza O. Momoh ◽  
Paul Abrahamse ◽  
Steven J. Katz ◽  
Reshma Jagsi ◽  
...  

78 Background: Despite mandated private insurance coverage for breast reconstruction following mastectomy, health care costs are increasingly passed onto women who seek these procedures through cost-sharing arrangements and high-deductible health plans. In this population-based study, we sought to characterize financial and employment toxicities related to pursuing breast reconstruction following mastectomy. Methods: Women (white, African American, and Latina-English and Spanish speaking) with early stage breast cancer (stages 0-II) diagnosed between July 2013 to September 2014 and who underwent mastectomy were identified through the Georgia and Los Angeles Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) registries and surveyed. Primary outcome measures included patient-reported appraisal of financial toxicity and employment status following breast cancer treatment using previously developed measures. Multivariable models evaluated the association between breast reconstruction and self-reported financial and employment status. Results: Among 868 breast cancer patients who underwent mastectomy, 43.5% (n = 378) did not undergo breast reconstruction and 56.5% (n = 490) underwent reconstruction. 43.4% of the cohort reported being worse off financially since their diagnosis (49.4% with reconstruction vs. 35.0% without reconstruction, P< .001). Among women who were employed at time of breast cancer diagnosis (n = 535), 70.2% who underwent reconstruction reported being worse off regarding employment status compared to 51.1% who did not undergo reconstruction ( P< .001). Receipt of reconstruction was independently associated with a self-reported decline in financial status (Odds Ratio (OR) 2.1, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 1.4-3.4, P= .001). Similarly, reports of being worse off regarding employment status were also higher in those who underwent reconstruction vs. not (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.2-3.8, P= .006). Spanish-speaking Latina women more often reported being worse off regarding employment status (OR 4.3, 95% CI 2.1-9.0, P< .001) than white women. Conclusions: In this diverse cohort of women who underwent mastectomy for early stage breast cancer, women who elected to undergo reconstruction experienced more self-reported financial and employment toxicities. Patients should be counseled regarding the potential costs related to these procedures. Policy-makers should be aware of the financial barriers for women who undergo reconstruction despite mandatory insurance coverage in the United States.


2002 ◽  
Vol 20 (7) ◽  
pp. 1809-1817 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda C. Harlan ◽  
Jeffrey Abrams ◽  
Joan L. Warren ◽  
Lin Clegg ◽  
Jennifer Stevens ◽  
...  

PURPOSE: We evaluated the use of adjuvant therapy for breast cancer using the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Consensus Development Conference statements as guideposts for assessing how rapidly community physicians adopt recommended therapies. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Women with stage I through IIIA breast cancer diagnosed in 1987 through 1991 and in 1995 were randomly sampled from the population-based National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End-Results program. A total of 8,106 women were included in the study with younger women, ≤ 50 years, being oversampled. Their treating physicians were asked to verify whether chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, or both were given. RESULTS: After adjusting for clinical and nonclinical factors, the use of 1985 recommendations for adjuvant therapy in women with node-positive disease was already high at 80% in 1987 and increased slightly to 84% by 1995. Use of combined multidrug chemotherapy plus tamoxifen increased. In contrast, the use of 1990 recommendations for adjuvant therapy for node-negative disease was slightly less than 13% in 1987 and increased markedly to 57% by 1995. For women with node-negative tumors ≥ 1 cm in size diagnosed in 1995, 40% received tamoxifen, 16% combination chemotherapy, and 7% both, an increase from 10%, 5%, and 0.4%, respectively, in 1987. CONCLUSION: Community physicians began prescribing adjuvant chemotherapy and hormonal therapy in advance of publication of the NIH consensus statement in 1990. Adoption of recommended treatments for node-negative disease has been less complete compared with node-positive tumors, perhaps reflecting the more complex nature of the clinical trials data or the smaller anticipated benefit from adjuvant therapy for this disease subset.


1997 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 2338-2344 ◽  
Author(s):  
E Guadagnoli ◽  
C Shapiro ◽  
J H Gurwitz ◽  
R A Silliman ◽  
J C Weeks ◽  
...  

PURPOSE To assess whether the use of adjuvant systemic therapy in postmenopausal women with early-stage breast cancer is influenced by patient age. METHODS A retrospective cohort study based on data collected from medical records and from patients and their surgeons was performed among 746 postmenopausal patients diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer at 30 hospitals located throughout Minnesota. The adjusted odds of receiving hormonal therapy, chemotherapy, and both hormonal therapy and chemotherapy as a function of age was determined. RESULTS Among women with negative lymph nodes, 62% received some form of adjuvant drug therapy. For these women, the likelihood of receiving hormonal therapy or both hormonal therapy and chemotherapy did not vary with patient age and the likelihood of receiving chemotherapy declined with age. Among women with positive lymph nodes, 92% received some form of adjuvant therapy. For these women, the likelihood of receiving hormonal therapy increased with age and the likelihood of receiving chemotherapy declined with age, as did the likelihood of receiving both hormonal therapy and chemotherapy. CONCLUSION The observed associations between age and the use of adjuvant systemic therapy appear to reflect, in general, available information about treatment efficacy and do not suggest underuse among elderly women with early-stage breast cancer. The use of adjuvant therapy depends on clinical factors that predict the increased risk of metastases or the increased likelihood of response to treatment, rather than other sociodemographic factors. Our results also suggest that younger postmenopausal women with positive lymph nodes compared with older women may be undertreated with respect to tamoxifen because of the substitution of chemotherapy for hormonal therapy.


2011 ◽  
Vol 29 (27_suppl) ◽  
pp. 201-201
Author(s):  
N. W. D. Lamond ◽  
C. Skedgel ◽  
D. Rayson ◽  
L. Lethbridge ◽  
T. Younis

201 Background: The 21-gene recurrence score (Oncotype DX: RS) appears to augment clinical-pathological prognostication and predicts adjuvant chemotherapy (chemo) benefits in patients with node-negative (N-) and node-positive (N+) hormone-receptor positive early-stage breast cancer. Economic analyses suggest that RS-guided chemo is a cost-effective strategy in N- breast cancer, but no evaluations were reported for N+ disease based on pre RS chemo utilization in clinical practice. We examined the cost-utility (CU) of a RS-guided chemo strategy, compared to current practice without RS in a population based cohort, in N- and N+ early-stage breast cancer. Methods: A generic state-transition model was developed to compute cumulative costs and quality-adjusted life years (QALY) over a 25-year horizon for patients with hormone-receptor positive early-stage breast cancer considered for chemo. We examined outcomes with and without chemo in RS-untested cohorts and in those with low, intermediate and high RS based on the reported prognostic and predictive impact of the RS. Chemo utilizations (current vs RS-guided), costs and utilities were derived from a Nova Scotia population based cohort, local resources and the literature. Sensitivity analyses were conducted for key model assumptions/parameters. Results: RS-guided chemo strategy is associated with incremental costs and QALY gains compared to chemo with no RS testing in both N- and N+ patients. The resultant CU ratios are $17,141/QALY and $5,772/QALY for N- and N+ disease, respectively. These CU ratios are well below commonly quoted thresholds and were most sensitive to RS-distribution, upfront chemo costs, chemo utilization rates and relative benefits of chemo in various RS-strata. Conclusions: RS-guided chemo in a population based cohort appears to be a cost-effective strategy, compared to chemo with no RS testing, in N- and N+ early-stage breast cancer.


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