Patient Knowledge of Health Information Influences Cancer Treatment
A new analysis finds that when colorectal cancer patients seek out health
information from the Internet and news media, they are more likely to
be aware of and receive the latest treatments for their disease. To
be published in the April 1 issue of CANCER,
the study indicates that patients can influence their own treatment,
in some cases in inappropriate ways.
In their review, authors led by Stacy Gray, MD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer
Institute in Boston, note that in the last several decades, patients
have become more involved in their healthcare as patient autonomy has
become increasingly important. That change has been accompanied by unprecedented
growth in the amount of health information available to patients. Studies
show that nearly four out of 10 cancer patients seek cancer information
on the Internet. But the authors say it is unclear how these phenomena
influence a cancer patient’s treatment.
Gray and colleagues from the National Cancer Institute Center of Excellence
in Cancer Communication Research at the University of Pennsylvania Annenberg
School designed a study to examine the relationship between information
seeking among 633 colorectal cancer patients chosen at random from the
Pennsylvania Cancer Registry and the use of novel new agents for the
disease. The investigators focused on the use of the targeted therapies
bevacizumab (Avastin) and cetuximab (Erbitux) because of these drugs’
clinical importance, significant media coverage, and recent approval
by the FDA.
Gray and her team hypothesized that there would be a relationship between
information seeking and awareness of these targeted therapies among
colorectal cancer patients. They also hypothesized that patients who
seek information may ask their physicians about these targeted therapies
and may be more likely to receive them than patients who do not seek
information.
The researchers found that high levels of information seeking were strongly
associated with both awareness of and receiving treatment using targeted
therapies. Patients who sought information about treatments for colorectal
cancer were 2.83 times more likely to have heard about targeted therapies
and 3.22 times more likely to have received targeted therapies than
people who did not seek information. These associations were present
for patients with advanced disease where use of targeted therapies is
FDA approved, as well as for patients with early stages of the disease
where their use is not FDA approved.
“These findings emphasize the importance of exploring patient
influence on physician prescribing patterns and understanding the impact
of information seeking on cancer outcomes,” the authors wrote.
Source: American Cancer Society
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