Patient and provider factors associated with the noninitiation of tamoxifen for young women at high-risk for the development of breast cancer

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-20-2019

Publication Title

The breast journal

Abstract

We sought to identify factors associated with disparities in tamoxifen utilization among young patients at high-risk for developing breast cancer. We identified 67 premenopausal, high-risk women age 35-45, without surgical prophylaxis, who did not initiate tamoxifen. Factors associated with noninitiation were examined. About 37% of patients had no documented provider-based discussion regarding initiation. Type of high-risk diagnosis was the only factor associated with a provider-based discussion (P = .03). For patients offered tamoxifen, primary reasons for noninitiation were perceived minimal benefit (66.7%), fertility concerns (16.7%), and concerns about side effects (7.1%). Implementation of comprehensive educational strategies regarding the benefits of tamoxifen should be facilitated to improve initiation among young high-risk patients.

Medical Subject Headings

Adult; Antineoplastic Agents; Hormonal/adverse effects; Breast Neoplasms/drug therapy; Female; Humans; Middle Aged; Premenopause; Tamoxifen/adverse effects; chemoprevention; shared decision making; tamoxifen

PubMed ID

31538708

ePublication

ePub ahead of print

Volume

26

Issue

3

First Page

464

Last Page

468

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