Low-Income Women Skipping Vital Breast Cancer Meds
Reported May 19, 2009
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — Research shows low-income women are less likely to survive breast cancer. Now, Duke researchers are helping explain why. They find many of these women stop taking medicines aimed at blocking hormones associated with the disease.
The investigators looked at data on women insured by Medicaid, the public insurance program for the poor. Despite this coverage and low co-pays for prescription drugs, only 64 percent of women with estrogen-positive breast cancers filled prescriptions for hormonal therapy in the year following their diagnosis. Among women who had actually filled a prescription for the drugs, 40 percent did not take them as prescribed by their doctors, and 20 percent quit taking them altogether within the first year.
To be effective, hormonal therapy must be taken for at least five years following a breast cancer diagnosis.
From this study, there is no way to know why the women were not taking medication as prescribed, study author Gretchen Kimmick, M.D., was quoted as saying. From previous studies, reasons have included side effects, such as hot flashes, aches and pains, cost of the medication, and lack of understanding about how important it is.
She believes more research is needed to find out why these women fail to take these vital drugs and design public health interventions to improve the compliance rate.
SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Oncology, published online May 5, 2009