title: What elderly cancer patients want to know? Differences among elderly and young patients.
abstract: (1) to evaluate the information needs of Italian elderly cancer patients (age > or =65 years), (2) to compare them with those of young patients (age 18-40 years). Between June 2004 and February 2005 we asked 122 elderly (mean age 72 years) and 52 young (mean age 33 years) cancer patients naïve for treatment to fill in two self-administered questionnaires exploring their needs for information and their psychological distress. The needs for information of elderly patients differed significantly from those of the young patients (p<0.0001); on contrast, both groups showed a similar psychological distress and the same reasons for seeking further information. Our results demonstrate that, more frequently than expected, Italian elderly cancer patients do not want complete information on their disease. Assessing to what extent elderly patients require information is essential for giving them tailored information.
authors.affiliation: Division of Medical Oncology A, National Cancer Institute-Centro di Referimento Oncologico, Via Pedemontana Occidentale 12, 33081 Aviano (PN), Italy. angolo@cro.it
authors.forename: Annalisa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Giacalone
authors.forename: Michela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Blandino
authors.forename: Renato
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Talamini
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bortolus
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Spazzapan
authors.forename: Mariagrazia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Valentini
authors.forename: Umberto
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Tirelli
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination; D008297:Male; D008495:Medical Oncology / Q000379:methods*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires