Background: Prognosis discussion is an essential component of informed decision-making. However, many terminally ill patients have a limited awareness of their prognosis and the causes are unclear. Objective: To explore the impact of physicians' propensity to discuss prognosis on advanced cancer patients' prognosis awareness. Design: Cancer Care Outcomes Research and Surveillance Consortium (CanCORS) study, a prospective cohort study with patient and physician surveys. Setting/Subjects: We investigated 686 patients with metastatic lung or colorectal cancer at diagnosis who participated in the CanCORS study and reported about their life expectancy. Data were linked to the physician survey from 486 physicians who were identified by these patients as filling important roles in their cancer care. Results: Few patients with metastatic cancers (16.5%) reported an accurate awareness of their prognosis, defined as reporting a life expectancy of less than 2 years for lung cancer or less than 5 years for colorectal cancer. Patients whose most-important-doctor (in helping patient make decisions) reported discussing prognosis with terminally ill patients earlier were more likely than those whose doctors deferred these discussions to have an accurate prognosis awareness (adjusted proportion, 18.5% versus 7.6%; odds ratio, 3.23; 95% confidence interval, 1.39-7.52; p = 0.006). Conclusions: Few patients with advanced cancer could articulate an accurate prognosis estimate, despite most having received chemotherapy and many physicians reported they would discuss prognosis early. Physicians' propensity to discuss prognosis earlier was associated with more accurate patient reports of prognosis. Enhancing the communication skills of providers with important roles in cancer care may help to improve cancer patients' understanding of their prognosis.

Background Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) for prostate cancer is associated with decreased insulin sensitivity and incident diabetes. Few data are available about the effects of ADT on diabetes control among men with diabetes. We examined care for over 7500 men with prostate cancer who had diabetes at the time of diagnosis to assess the effect of ADT on diabetes control, as measured by HbA1c levels and the intensification of diabetes drug therapy. Methods We compared hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels and intensification of diabetes pharmacotherapy among 2237 pairs of propensity matched men with prostate cancer and diabetes who were or were not treated with ADT. We calculated the difference-in-difference of HbA1c levels at baseline and 1 and 2 years in the 2 groups, compared using a paired t test. We used a Cox proportional hazards model to estimate time to intensification of diabetes therapy. Results The mean (SE) HbA1c at baseline was 7.24 (0.05) for the ADT group and 7.24 (0.04) for the no-ADT group. HbA1c increased at 1 year for men treated with ADT to 7.38 (0.04) and decreased among men not treated with ADT to 7.14 (0.04), for a difference in differences of +0.24 (P=0.008). Results were similar at 2 years (P=.03). Receipt of ADT was also associated with an increased hazard of addition of diabetes medication (adjusted hazard ratio=1.20, 95% CI=1.09-1.32). Conclusions ADT is associated with worsening of diabetes control, with both increases in HbA1c levels and the need for additional diabetes medications.

Background: Knowledge of existing prescription patterns in the treatment of newly-diagnosed hypertension can provide useful information for improving clinical practice in this field. The aims of this study are to determine the prescription patterns and time trends for antihypertensive medication in newly-diagnosed cases of uncomplicated hypertension in Taiwan and to compare these with current clinical guidelines.

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QOL was significantly associated with staging and duration of NSCLC. Disease insight appears to be a positive factor for operable NSCLC patients of the Taiwanese culture, which implies that clinicians should respect patient autonomy in diagnosis disclosure.

BackgroundHuman papillomavirus (HPV) infection has been shown to be a major risk factor for cervical cancer. Vaccines against HPV-16 and HPV-18 are highly effective in preventing type-specific HPV infections and related cervical lesions. There is, however, limited data available describing the health and economic impacts of HPV vaccination in Taiwan. The objective of this study was to assess the cost-effectiveness of prophylactic HPV vaccination for the prevention of cervical cancer in Taiwan.MethodsWe developed a Markov model to compare the health and economic outcomes of vaccinating preadolescent girls (at the age of 12 years) for the prevention of cervical cancer with current practice, including cervical cytological screening. Data were synthesized from published papers or reports, and whenever possible, those specific to Taiwan were used. Sensitivity analyses were performed to account for important uncertainties and different vaccination scenarios.ResultsUnder the assumption that the HPV vaccine could provide lifelong protection, the massive vaccination among preadolescent girls in Taiwan would lead to reduction in 73.3% of the total incident cervical cancer cases and would result in a life expectancy gain of 4.9 days or 8.7 quality-adjusted life days at a cost of US$324 as compared to the current practice. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was US$23,939 per life year gained or US$13,674 per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained given the discount rate of 3%. Sensitivity analyses showed that this ICER would remain below US$30,000 per QALY under most conditions, even when vaccine efficacy was suboptimal or when vaccine-induced immunity required booster shots every 13 years.ConclusionsAlthough gains in life expectancy may be modest at the individual level, the results indicate that prophylactic HPV vaccination of preadolescent girls in Taiwan would result in substantial population benefits with a favorable cost-effectiveness ratio. Nevertheless, we should not overlook the urgency to improve the compliance rate of cervical screening, particularly for older individuals.

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Background Adherence to oral cancer drugs is suboptimal. The Oncology Care Model (OCM) offers oncology practices financial incentives to improve the value of cancer care. We assessed the impact of OCM on adherence to oral cancer therapy for chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), prostate cancer, and breast cancer. Methods Using 2014–2019 Medicare data, we studied chemotherapy episodes for Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries prescribed tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) for CML, antiandrogens (ie, enzalutamide, abiraterone) for prostate cancer, or hormonal therapies for breast cancer, in OCM-participating and propensity-matched comparison practices. We measured adherence as the proportion of days covered and used difference-in-difference (DID) models to detect changes in adherence over time, adjusting for patient, practice, and market-level characteristics. Results There was no overall impact of OCM on improved adherence to TKIs for CML (DID=; -0.3%, 90%confidence interval [CI] =; -1.2%, 0.6%), antiandrogens for prostate cancer (DID=; 0.4%, 90%CI =; -0.3%, 1.2%), or hormonal therapy for breast cancer (DID=; 0.0%, 90%CI =; -0.2%, 0.2%). Among episodes for Black beneficiaries in OCM practices, for whom adherence was lower than for White beneficiaries at baseline, we observed small improvements in adherence to high cost TKIs (DID=; 3.0%, 90%CI =; 0.2%, 5.8%) and antiandrogens (DID=; 2.2%, 90%CI =; 0.2%, 4.3%). Conclusions OCM did not impact adherence to oral cancer therapies for Medicare beneficiaries with CML, prostate cancer, or breast cancer overall, but modestly improved adherence to high-cost TKIs and antiandrogens for Black beneficiaries, who had somewhat lower adherence than White beneficiaries at baseline. Patient navigation and financial counseling are potential mechanisms for improvement among Black beneficiaries.