A new study led by Kirsten Nyrop, PhD, assistant professor in the division of oncology and member of the UNC Lineberger Cancer Research Center, reports a gap in communication between women with early-stage breast cancer and physicians about the severity of their chemotherapy treatment-related symptoms.
The study compared how women with breast cancer rated the severity of 17 of their own symptoms with physician ratings of chemotherapy toxicity.
At best, the researchers found patients and physicians showed “moderate” agreement on the severity for 53 percent of symptoms, “fair” agreement for 41 percent and “slight” agreement for six percent.
The biggest differences in symptom severity ratings were linked to race, specifically between physicians and black women with breast cancer and racial minorities, researchers reported. Published in the journal Cancer, the findings showed the need to improve communication between physicians and patients, the researchers said.
“The highest level of agreement on symptom severity was ‘moderate;’ this is suboptimal,” said UNC Lineberger’s Kirsten Nyrop, PhD, research assistant professor at the UNC School of Medicine Division of Hematology/Oncology. “Patient-reported symptom severity is considered the ‘gold standard’ for measuring treatment toxicity and its impact on the patient’s quality of life. There needs to be improved communication between patients and their clinicians regarding symptom severity, especially for non-white patients.”
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