title: Health care use among endometrial cancer survivors: a study from PROFILES, a population-based survivorship registry.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Increasing numbers of endometrial cancer survivors place a high burden on the health care system. This study describes the number of visits to the general practitioner, the medical specialist and other care services, compared with the general population, and factors associated with this health care use: age, marital status, education, body mass index, comorbidity, years since diagnosis, and radiotherapy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Survivors of stage I to stage II endometrial cancer diagnosed between 1999 and 2007 were selected from the Eindhoven Cancer Registry. Survivors (N = 742) completed a questionnaire about their demographic characteristics and health care use. Cancer-related information was retrieved from the Eindhoven Cancer Registry.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Endometrial cancer survivors visited their medical specialist more often (3.4 times per year) than the general population. In relation to their cancer, they visited their general practitioner once and their medical specialist twice per year. Use of additional care services was low (14%) but higher among younger survivors (33%). Younger women were more likely to make cancer-related visits to their general practitioner, whereas more highly educated women were less likely to visit their general practitioner and more likely to make cancer-related medical specialist visits. Women with more comorbid conditions were more likely to make general and cancer-related general practitioner visits. Radiotherapy and body mass index were not related to health care use.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Endometrial cancer survivors use more health care than women in the general population. Younger women visit their general practitioner more often in relation to their cancer and use more additional care services. More highly educated survivors were more likely to visit a medical specialist in relation to their cancer.
authors.affiliation: Center of Research on Psychology in Somatic Diseases (CoRPS), Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology, Tilburg University, The Netherlands. n.ezendam@ikz.nl
authors.forename: Nicole P M
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Ezendam
authors.forename: Kim A H
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Nicolaije
authors.forename: Dorry
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Boll
authors.forename: Marnix L M
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Lybeert
authors.forename: Floortje
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mols
authors.forename: Johanna M A
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Pijnenborg
authors.forename: Lonneke V
authors.initials: LV
authors.lastname: van de Poll-Franse
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006295:Health Resources / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011379:Prognosis; D011788:Quality of Life; D012042:Registries; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D015996:Survival Rate; D017741:Survivors