Breast cancer treatment in older women: impact of the patient-physician interaction.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the impact of the patient-physician interaction on breast cancer care in older women.


METHODS
Cross-sectional survey.


METHODS
Los Angeles County, California.


METHODS
Two hundred twenty-two consecutively identified breast cancer patients aged 55 and older who were within 6 months of breast cancer diagnosis and/or 1 month posttreatment.


METHODS
Dependent variables were patient breast cancer knowledge, treatment delay, and receipt of breast-conserving surgery (BCS). Key independent variables were five dimensions of the patient-physician interaction by patient report, including physician provision of tangible and interactive informational support, physician provision of emotional support, physician participatory decision-making style, and patient perceived self-efficacy in the patient-physician interaction. Age and ethnicity were additional important independent variables.


RESULTS
In multiple logistic regression models, only physician interactive informational support had significant relationships with all three dependent variables, controlling for a wide range of patient sociodemographic and case-mix characteristics, visit length, number of physicians seen, social support, and physician sociodemographic and practice characteristics. Specifically, informational support positively predicted patient breast cancer knowledge (adjusted odds ratio (AOR)=1.18, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.00-1.38), negatively predicted treatment delays (AOR=0.80, 95% CI=0.67-0.94), and positively predicted receipt of BCS (AOR=1.29, 95% CI=1.07-1.56). Age and ethnicity were not significant predictors in these models.


CONCLUSIONS
One specific domain of the patient-physician interaction, interactive informational support, may provide an avenue to ensure adequate breast cancer knowledge for patient treatment decision-making, decrease treatment delay, and increase rates of BCS for older breast cancer patients, thereby potentially mitigating known healthcare disparities in this vulnerable population of breast cancer patients.
Maly
Rose C
RC
Department of Family Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA. rmaly@mednet.ucla.edu
Leake
Barbara
B
Silliman
Rebecca A
RA
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D015141:Los Angeles; D008875:Middle Aged; D010358:Patient Participation; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires