Abstract
The improper adherence to therapy is an emerging medical and economic issue in oncology which raised with the increasing use of oral anti-cancer treatment. Currently, the average rate of non-adherence to oral anti-cancer therapy is estimated at around 21%. In this study, we use the examples of the imatinib treatment against chronic lymphocytic leukemia and the tamoxifene treatment against breast cancer to assess the negative consequences of the non-adherence to therapy in terms of medical outcome and health care cost. One of the main causes of non-adherence to these oral cancer treatments is depression. Surprisingly, this aspect is still relatively unknown to oncologists, while depression has been taken into account for the treatment of other chronic diseases (e.g. diabetes…). We therefore propose that cancer patients should be screened for depression throughout their treatment to improve the adherence to therapy. Cancer patients should have the opportunity to explain their own perception of their disease and their treatment that are key parameters in the onset of depression. The recent use of oral therapy in cancer treatment should thus be accompanied by the establishment of a global management of cancer patient on a case-by-case basis.
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