Table 3.

Decision-making around breast cancer treatment

Treatment decision-making outcomes	Overall n = 70	65–74 years n = 27	75+ years n = 43	p value
Role in treatment decisions				0.90
Patient made the final decision	17 % (12)	19 % (5)	16 % (7)
Decision shared with physician but not family	34 % (24)	37 % (10)	33 % (14)
Decision shared with physician and family	41 % (29)	41 % (11)	42 % (18)
Physician and family but not patient shared the decision	2 % (1)	0	2 % (1)
Physician made the final decision	6 % (4)	3 % (1)	7 % (3)
Information received about breast cancer
Adequate	82 % (56 of 68)	85 % (22 of 26)	81 % (34 of 42)	0.86
Too much	7 % (5 of 68)	8 % (2 of 26)	7 % (3 of 42)
Too little	10 % (7 of 68)	8 % (2 of 26)	12 % (5 of 42)
Obtained information from other sources besides physicians	44 % (30 of 68)	62 % (16 of 26)	33 % (14 of 42)	0.02
Perceived involvement in care
Patient information seeking scale	7.1 (±2.2)	8.0 (±2.0)	6.6 (±2.2)	0.01
Surgeon-initiated communication	6.9 (±2.5)	7.6 (±2.4)	6.5 (±2.4)	0.12
Factors influencing treatment decisions (range 0–3, 3 = a lot, 0 = not at all, mean ± SD)
Surgeon’s recommendations	2.4 (±1.0)	2.5 (±0.9)	2.4 (±1.0)	0.86
Oncologist’s recommendation (n = 57)	1.9 (±1.2)	2.2 (±1.2)	1.7 (±1.1)	0.10
Advice of family	1.3 (±1.3)	1.4 (±1.4)	1.3 (±1.3)	0.65
Maintaining quality of life	1.3 (±1.3)	1.4 (±1.3)	1.3 (±1.3)	0.82
Primary care physician’s recommendations	1.2 (±1.3)	1.2 (±1.3)	1.3 (±1.3)	0.74
Health	1.1 (±1.3)	1.2 (±1.4)	1.0 (±1.3)	0.58
Age	1.0 (±1.2)	1.1 (±1.1)	0.9 (1.1)	0.75
Faith/religion	0.6 (±1.2)	0.7 (±1.2)	0.6 (±1.2)	0.90
Advice of a friend	0.5 (±0.9)	0.6 (±1.0)	0.4 (±0.8)	0.46
Transportation	0.4 (±0.9)	0.1 (±0.6)	0.5 (±1.1)	0.047
Cost of treatment	0.1 (±0.4)	0.1 (±0.4)	0.1 (±0.3)	0.68

p values <0.05 are in bold