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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Sep 1.
Published in final edited form as: Health Expect. 2010 Jun 9;13(3):258–272. doi: 10.1111/j.1369-7625.2010.00600.x

Table 3c.

Chemotherapy and hormone therapy: percentage of patients and providers who ranked each fact and goal in their top 3.

Chemotherapy/Hormone Therapy Fact* Patient (n=17) % Provider (n=27) % 95% CI of the difference
Best choice depends on medical factors and patient’s feelings about benefits and side effects. 41 52 −20 43
Realistic estimate of the risk of recurrence with CHT. 41 48 −38 25
Chemotherapy can reduce recurrence and improve survival. 12 38 −52 0
HT can reduce recurrence, improve survival in women with hormone receptor positive tumors. 12 33 −47 4
Size of the benefit from CHT depends on size of the risk of recurrence. 29 33 −26 34
Realistic estimate of the prognosis, recurrence, or death without CHT. 18 33 −43 11
60–75% will be cancer free 10 years after surgery without CHT. 29 29 −28 30
CHT reduces recurrence more than it increases survival. 6 14 −27 10
Realistic estimate of how much CHT would help lengthen life. 29 14 −42 11
Women with serious health problems may gain less benefit from CHT. 35 5 6 55
CH can cause short term, temporary side effects (nausea, vomiting, hair loss, fatigue). 12 0 −4 27
CH can cause rare, serious side effects (heart problems, cancers, infection, clots). 24 0 3 44
HT can cause temporary side effects (hot flashes, vaginal discharge, sexual problems). 6 0 −5 17
HT can cause rare, serious side effects (blood clots, endometrial cancer, bone loss). 6 0 −5 17
Chemotherapy/Hormone Therapy Goal* Patient (n=20) % Provider (n=27) % 95% CI of the difference
Live as long as possible. 59 96 12 62
Reduce the chance that the cancer will come back. 82 91 −13 30
Avoid serious side effects of chemotherapy. 29 41 −41 18
Be able to say that you did everything possible. 35 41 −25 36
Avoid serious side effects of hormone therapy. 25 9 −4 45
Do what your doctor(s) think is best. 6 9 −20 13
Avoid short-term side effects of chemotherapy. 0 5 −13 4
Avoid lengthy treatment. 24 5 −3 41
Maintain fertility. 6 5 −13 16
Avoid short-term side effects of hormone therapy. 12 0 −4 27

CI = confidence interval; CHT = chemotherapy and/or hormone therapy; CH = chemotherapy; HT = hormone therapy

*

shortened from the original wording

Bold print denotes statistically significant difference, p<0.05.