Women's Health in the News
Key Factors Spur Older Cancer Patients to Quit Chemo
Wednesday, May 3, 2006
Colon cancer study cites frailty, lack of support as important to this decision
WEDNESDAY, May 3 (HealthDay News) -- Physical weakness, treatment complications, and a lack of social and psychological support can keep elderly patients with stage III colon cancer from finishing chemotherapy after surgery, a new U.S. study finds.
Researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle analyzed data from nearly 3,200 stage III colon cancer patients who opted for chemotherapy after they'd had surgery for their cancer. Of those, 2,497 (78.2 percent) completed the chemotherapy treatment, which studies show can reduce the risk of death.
Among the patients who did not complete their chemotherapy treatment, physical frailty, treatment complications, and a lack of social/psychological support were cited as factors. The patients' doctors' characteristics did not play a role in failure to complete treatment, the study said. Black patients were as just likely as whites to finish chemotherapy.
"From these findings, interventions to improve social and physical support throughout the treatment course could be implemented, to test whether such support improves rates of chemotherapy completion in elderly colon cancer patients," the study authors wrote.
The findings appear in the May 3 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
SOURCE: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, news release, May 2, 2006
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