Implications of patients’ socioeconomic status – what oncologists should be aware of

Low educational level but not low income impairs the achievement of cytogenetic remission in chronic myeloid leukemia patients treated with imatinib in Brazil

“…Among our patients, the only demographic factor influencing the optimal cytogenetic response according to the ELN criteria was the education level, whereas personal income and the distance between home and the health care facility did not. In a population with unrestricted access to medication, patients with a better education level may better understand the disease mechanism and the importance of long-term treatment, as has been previously noted 4,5,19 . Social and educational inequalities have also been shown to influence breast cancer mortality 20 as well as the normal development of low birth weight children 21 .…”

“…Nevertheless, several publications have called attention to the fact that better educated patients and those with good family support have much better outcomes after cancer treatment, especially with oral anti-cancer agents, in European countries 5,23 . Highly educated patients read more, better understand the nature of their disease, and are more perseverant and more motivated to adhere to long-lasting treatments, regularly using the prescribed drugs and even arriving at the hospital on the appropriate day 4,5,19,23 . This was fully confirmed in the present study, in which the years spent in school was a strong predictive factor for an optimal cytogenetic response.…”

“…The approval of imatinib (IM) as a targeted therapy for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) by the Federal Drug Agency (FDA) in 2001 has opened a new era in the treatment of this disease and has considerably improved patients' survival 1-5 . In Brazil, the Ministry of Health initially approved IM for CML in the chronic phase as a second-line treatment and in 2008 as front-line therapy 6,7 .…”

The breast cancer paradox: A systematic review of the association between area-level deprivation and breast cancer screening uptake in Europe

“…For example, in England, incidence rates for breast cancer are 14% lower for women living in the most deprived areas, compared to the least deprived, while people living in the most deprived areas have a significantly higher mortality rate – with an estimated 350 yearly excess deaths [ 4 ]. This breast cancer paradox may be attributable to later diagnosis [ 5 ], suboptimal cancer care [ 6 ], co-morbidities that may limit treatment options or increase the possibility of developing treatment complications [ 7 ], and – most notably in terms of prevention – lower rates of breast cancer screening uptake.…”

Процена Дистреса Онколошких Пацијената Након Завршетка Лечења

“…У нашем истраживању значајан број пацијената наводи бригу о новцу и рачунима, те проблеме на послу/школи, као проблеме који их од осталих наведених практичних проблема највише потресају, што указује на то да су приходи и активности током трајања онколошког лечења, а често и у периоду рехабилитације, након лечења, значајно редуковани, што отежава функционисање пацијената и представља додатни извор бриге. Подаци добијени у истраживањима страних аутора, слично као и у на-шем истраживању, показују да нижи социо-економски и образовни статус онколошких пацијената представља снажан дистрес и да има утицаја на квалитет живота током лечења и након њега, на животни стил, понашање у вези са малигном болешћу и у неким студијама чак и на квантитет преживљавања (Cavalli-Björkman, 2014;Zhang, Wang, Hu, HHuang, Xie, Liu, Chen, Wang, & Xishan, 2017;Klein, Hofreuter-Gätgens, Lüdecke, Fisch, Graefen, & Knesebeck, 2016;Naik, Qiu, Brown, Eng, Pringle, Mahler, Hon, Tiessen, Тhai, Ho, Gonos, Charow, Pat, Irwin, Herzog, Ho, Xu, Jones, Howell, & Liu, 2016).…”