Lack of knowledge of hormone receptor status is associated with lower prevalence of use of endocrine therapy in women with invasive breast cancer

Summary

The aim of this study was to investigate the level of knowledge in women newly-diagnosed with breast cancer about the hormone receptor status of their disease and the relationship between that knowledge and their treatment with adjuvant endocrine therapy.

The analysis was performed on data from the first questionnaire of the MBF Health and Wellbeing after Breast Cancer study. 1684 women diagnosed with invasive breast cancer between 2004 and 2006 in the state of Victoria joined the study and completed the baseline questionnaire within 12 months of their diagnosis. The relationship between age, education status and being able to correctly report hormone receptor status was investigated using logistic regression analysis, as was the relationship between the likelihood of taking adjuvant endocrine therapy and knowledge of hormone receptor status in women who were oestrogen and/or progesterone receptor positive. Histological confirmation of receptor status was provided by the Victorian Cancer Registry (VCR).

The results indicated that being older and less educated was associated with being less likely to correctly report hormone receptor status. Of women who were identified by the VCR as oestrogen and/or progesterone receptor positive and who were at least 40 weeks from diagnosis, having received endocrine therapy was significantly associated with self-identification of being hormone receptor positive, even when age was taken into account.

Adjuvant endocrine therapy has been shown to greatly reduce the risk of recurrence and is the gold standard of care. This study suggests that a review of the methods currently available to help women understand their breast cancer would be valuable as self-knowledge of hormone receptor status was shown to be independently associated with the likelihood of taking this therapy.