Worry about recurrence and patient preferences for provider roles in collaborative breast cancer care.

Abstract

158 Background: Prior studies have shown that worry about recurrence is a common problem during cancer treatment and survivorship and may be associated with symptom response and surveillance after primary treatment. However, whether worry about recurrence influences patient preferences for which provider to see for their continuing care remains unknown. Methods: A random sample of patients newly diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014-15 as reported to the Georgia and Los Angeles SEER registries were surveyed approximately 6 months after diagnosis (N = 2,502, 70% response rate). Frequency of worry about recurrence was defined by asking women to indicate on a 5-pt scale how often they worried about their cancer coming back in the past month (not at all-always) and was then dichotomized as frequent worry (sometimes/often/almost always) vs. less worry (almost never/rarely). Patient preferences for which provider manages certain aspects of care after treatment were ascertained for: follow-up mammograms, screening for other cancers, general preventive care, and treatment of comorbidities. Response categories included primary care clinician (PCP), cancer doctors, either or both. The associations between patient-reported worry about recurrence with preferences for provider roles were assessed using multinomial logistic regression. Results: In this sample, 37% of women reported worrying frequently about recurrence. Controlling for patient and clinical factors, women who reported more frequent worry (vs. less worry) were more likely to prefer to see both clinicians (vs. PCP only) for mammograms (OR: 2.3, 95%CI: 1.5, 3.6), screening for other cancers (OR: 2.3, 95%CI: 1.5, 3.5), general preventive care (OR: 1.6, 95%CI: 1.1, 2.3) and comorbidity care (OR: 1.5, 95%CI: 1.03, 2.2). Conclusions: Frequent worry about recurrence was common in this sample of women with favorable prognosis breast cancer. More frequent worry about breast cancer recurrence was associated with stronger preferences for seeing both PCPs and oncologists for continuing care after treatment. Assessing and managing worry about recurrence early in survivorship may improve collaborative cancer care and reduce duplicated services after treatment.