Unmet supportive care needs of breast cancer patients and correlates: a cross sectional study among government sector patients in Western Province

• Published in: Journal of the College of Community Physicians of Sri Lanka 2022-07, Vol.27 (5), p.31
• Main Authors: Arumapperuma, Prasantha, Ginige, Samitha, Godakandage, Sanjeeva S. P., Weerasinghe, Sujeeva
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Breast cancer; Correlates; Supportive care needs
• ISSN: 1391-3174; 1391-3174
• DOI: 10.4038/jccpsl.v27i5.8461

Introduction: Cancer incidence is in a rising trend and due to screening and advanced treatments, cancer prevalence is even higher. All cancer patients have supportive care needs which has to be addressed by the health system.   Objectives: To assess the prevalence and correlates of unmet supportive care needs, of female breast cancer patients followed up in government health sector in Western Province   Methods: An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted among 1415 breast cancer patients from Western Province who attend clinics at Apeksha Hospital. Study used a disproportionate stratified sample comprising of equal number of patients from the initial and 2nd to 6th treatment years. SCaN-Br; a tool developed and validated in Sri Lanka to assess the unmet supportive care needs of breast cancer patients was administrated with a questionnaire to assess correlates by trained interviewers. Few clinical data were collected using a data extraction form. Correlates were assessed using multiple logistic regression and relevant adjusted odds ratio (aOR) and confidence intervals were calculated.   Results: Response rate of the study was 92.4%. Unmet supportive care needs were highly prevailing in the study population. Among the patients in the initial treatment year and the 2nd to 6th years, the prevalence of unmet supportive care needs ranged between 63.9% (n=473; 95% CI: 60.4, 67.5) to 94.3% (n=698; 95% CI: 92.7, 96.0) and 39.3% (n=265; 95% CI: 35.4, 43.0) to 87.1 % (n=588; 95% CI: 84.3, 89.5) across different domains. "What to do to prevent this type of disease developing again" was the commonest unmet need among the participants of initial (n=589; 79.6%) as well as 2nd to 6th treatment years (n=499; 73.9%). Patients in the initial treatment year showed statistically significant high level of unmet needs for most of the domains except for social and spiritual domains. Specially, needs related to physical (a0R=3.25; 95% CI: 2.46, 4.3) and health system and information (a0R=2.51; 95% CI: 1.71, 3.71) were extremely high among patients of the initial treatment year.   Conclusions & Recommendations: Unmet supportive care needs were highly prevailing, especially among the patients in the initial treatment year. Implementation of a multi-sectoral plan of action is needed specially targeting the high-risk groups.