Adherence to post-surgery follow-up assessment and its association with sociodemographic and disease characteristics in patients with breast cancer in Central China

Abstract

Background Follow-up after curative surgery is increasingly recognized as an important component of breast cancer care. Although current guideline regulates the follow-ups, there are no relevant studies on the adherence to it in China. This study investigated the post-surgery follow-up and explored its association with patients, tumor and treatment characteristics. Methods A total of 711 patients underwent surgical treatment in Shanxi Bethune Hospital from March 2012 to May 2018 were included in this study. Baseline sociodemographic, tumor, and treatment characteristics were obtained from the hospital electronic medical records. The post-surgery follow-up was reviewed and assessed from the patient’s follow-up examination record. Factors associated with the first three-year follow up was evaluated using logistic regression analysis. Results The annual follow-up rate after surgery decreased gradually from 67.1% at the 1st year, 60.2% at the 3rd year to 51.9% at the 4th year, and 43.5% at the 5th year. Loss of follow-up during the first 3 years after surgery was significantly associated with older age (> 65 years), lower medical insurance coverage, axillary lymph node dissection, and less intensity of systemic treatment. Conclusion A significant downtrend of annual follow-up rate for breast cancer survivors was confirmed in this study. Loss of follow-up within the first 3 years after surgery was associated with both patient’s characteristics and treatment. These results will provide evidence to help clinicians to develop tailored patient management after curative surgery.

Hypoglossal Nerve Stimulation Therapy Outcomes in Apnea‐ Versus Hypopnea‐Predominant Patients

“…These factors might have included poor treatment tolerance, difficulty in reaching follow-up appointments and sleep studies, or even therapy success leading to a lack of desire to follow-up further, which is often seen in a surgical context. 21 Given that the data were collected retrospectively, our study is also potentially subject to selection bias, as participant selection was from a pool of preexisting data. This may have contributed to the attrition bias.…”

“…It is also highly possible there were factors that contributed to the significant loss to follow‐up at the 1‐year time point, suggesting a potential attrition bias. These factors might have included poor treatment tolerance, difficulty in reaching follow‐up appointments and sleep studies, or even therapy success leading to a lack of desire to follow‐up further, which is often seen in a surgical context 21 . Given that the data were collected retrospectively, our study is also potentially subject to selection bias, as participant selection was from a pool of preexisting data.…”

Changes in Pain Sensitivity in Treatment for Breast Cancer: A 12-Month Follow-Up Case Series

“…A potential shortcoming of this study is the intake of analgesic medication when pain occurred. Finally, some follow-up assessments were incomplete for several participants, at times due to COVID−19 confinement, but in one case for unknown reasons, though likely related to lack of therapeutic adherence [ 58 ].…”