Abstract OT2-10-01: Treatment burden and capacity to manage care among patients with breast cancer
Authors: Cheng A , Levy M 
Published: May 2019

Patients with breast cancer spend significant time1, effort, and financial resources2 to combat the disease for years after their diagnosis. The large volume of healthcare tasks can cause patients to become overburdened, leading to reduced adherence with care plans and worse outcomes3. On the other hand, certain patient characteristics such as physical resilience, financial well-being, and supportive family environments increase patients' capacity to manage care4. Assessing treatment burden and capacity when prescribing care has been applied to populations such as diabetes patients5. We are investigating this paradigm in treatment of patients with breast cancer. The goal of this preliminary study is to identify significant factors that contribute to treatment burden, capacity to manage care, and outcomes of overburden for patients with breast cancer.

Examples of treatment burden, capacity to manage care, and outcomes of overburden in patients with breast cancerTreatment burdenCapacity to manage careOutcomes of overburdenTraveling long distances for careAccess to reliable transportationReduced spending on food, utilities, or other necessitiesPaying for child care during chemotherapyFlexibility in informal caregivers' schedulesMissed appointment with medical oncologistRemembering to take medications with mealsMedical understanding or knowledgeWorse than expected side effectsReporting adverse eventsProficiency with mobile deviceTrip to emergency room

Through literature review, interviews with survivors, and expert panels of navigators and providers, we will develop a survey instrument given to patients at the time of diagnosis. The survey will assess patient capacity and help providers give treatment options based on attributes of the patient. Additionally, we will attempt to correlate survey results with treatment burden measures derived from electronic health record data at a population level1. With treatment personalized for patient capacity, patients should be better able to adhere to care plans leading to improved quality of life during treatment and beyond.

Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank Cheryl Jernigan, our patient advocate mentor, for her guidance in this project. We would also like to thank the Susan G. Komen Foundation for their support of this research.

References:

1. Cheng, A. C. & Levy, M. A. Data Driven Approach to Burden of Treatment Measurement: A Study of Patients with Breast Cancer. AMIA Annu. Symp. proceedings. AMIA Symp. 2016, 1756–1763 (2016).

2. Zafar, S. Y. et al. The financial toxicity of cancer treatment: a pilot study assessing out-of-pocket expenses and the insured cancer patient's experience. Oncologist. 18, 381–90 (2013).

3. Mair, F. S. & May, C. R. Thinking about the burden of treatment. BMJ. 349, g6680–g6680 (2014).

4. Boehmer, K. R., Shippee, N. D., Beebe, T. J. & Montori, V. M. Pursuing Minimally Disruptive Medicine: Correlation of patient capacity with disruption from illness and healthcare-related demands. J. Clin. Epidemiol. (2016).

5. Ishii, H. et al. Reproducibility and Validity of a Questionnaire Measuring Treatment Burden on Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: Diabetic Treatment Burden Questionnaire (DTBQ). Diabetes Ther. 9, 1001–1019 (2018).

Citation Format: Cheng A, Levy M. Treatment burden and capacity to manage care among patients with breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2018 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2018 Dec 4-8; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(4 Suppl):Abstract nr OT2-10-01.