ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND:
Current studies on adherence to endocrine therapy in breast cancer patients
suffer from methodological limitations due to a lack of well-validated methods
for assessing adherence. There is no gold standard for measuring adherence. The
aim of our study was to compare four different approaches for evaluating
adherence to anastrozole therapy for breast cancer with regard to concordance
between methods.
METHODS:
Outpatients
with early breast cancer treated with anastrozole completed the multi-method
assessment of adherence. We implemented a self-report scale (the Simplified
Medication Adherence Questionnaire), physician- ratings, refill records and
determination of anastrozole serum concentration.
RESULTS:
Comparison
of the four approaches using Spearman rank correlation revealed poor
concordance across all methods reflecting weak correlations of 0.2-0.4.
Considering this data incomparability across methods, we still observed high
adherence rates of 78%-98% across measures.
CONCLUSION:
Our
findings contribute to the growing body of knowledge on the impact that
methodological aspects exert on the results of adherence measurement in breast
cancer patients receiving endocrine treatment. Our findings suggest that the
development and validation of instruments specific to patients receiving
endocrine agents is imperative in order to arrive at a more accurate assessment
and to subsequently obtain more precise estimates of adherence rates in this
patient population.
Source:
Adherence evaluation of endocrine treatment in breast cancer:
methodological aspects. Oberguggenberger AS, Sztankay M, Beer B,
Schubert B, Meraner V, Oberacher H, Kemmler G, Giesinger J, Gamper E,
Sperner-Unterweger B, Marth C, Holzner B, Hubalek M (michael.hubalek@i-med.ac.at). BMC
Cancer. 2012 Oct 15;12(1):474.
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