A 3-year study of over 2,000 cancer survivors revealed that information seeking among cancer survivors varied over time and was often contingent on the specific type of cancer.
With the help of the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication, the investigators, led by Dr. Andy Tan of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, surveyed cancer survivors diagnosed with colon, breast, or prostate cancer annually from 2006 to 2008. The most frequently reported topic across survivors and over time was seeking information about reducing the odds for cancer recurrence, with 28% of cancer survivors reporting that they had looked for information about recurrence. Twelve percent said that they had looked for information about the risks of their family members getting a different cancer from their diagnosis.
Information seeking increased or decreased over time based on cancer type and gender. For example, breast cancer survivors grew increasingly less likely to seek information about survivorship topics over their survivorship timeframe, but female colon cancer survivors grew more likely to seek information about how to reduce the risk of family members getting colon cancer in later years when compared with female breast cancer survivors.
Clinicians may be advised to provide information at distinct points during the survivorship period to address concerns about cancer recurrence, late effects, and family members’ risks, Dr. Tan and his associates wrote.
Read the full article here: Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev. 2015 May 15 (doi:10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-15-0041)