Patient Preferences for Side Effects Associated With Cervical Cancer Treatment

Abstract

Objectives To assess patient preferences regarding side effects associated with cervical cancer treatment. Methods/Materials The visual analog scale (VAS) and modified standard gamble (SG) were used to elicit preferences of women with no evidence of disease following primary treatment for cervical cancer. Higher scores on VAS and SG indicated more favorable ratings for a given health state (HS). HS included: vaginal shortening (VAG), diarrhea, dietary changes (DIET), menopause, moderate nausea/vomiting (NV), rectal bleeding, sexual dysfunction, and urinary self-catheterization (USC). Descriptive statistics, Kruskal-Wallis, Mann Whitney U, Wilcoxon signed-ranks tests and correlation coefficients were used for statistical analysis. Results 78 patients participated in the study. Median age was 44.1 years (range 24.9–67.8). Median time since treatment completion was 31.2 months (range 1.0–113.3). The health states rated as most favorable by VAS were also rated as most favorable by SG. Increasing age was associated with higher VAS scores for menopause and VAG (p=0.04 and 0.036). African-Americans had higher VAS scores for DIET (p=0.05), sexual dysfunction (p=0.028), and diarrhea (p=0.05) when compared to Hispanic and non-Hispanic white patients. Women receiving radiation had more favorable VAS scores for menopause compared to women undergoing radical hysterectomy (p=0.05). Women receiving chemotherapy rated USC less favorably by VAS score compared to those not receiving chemotherapy (p=0.045). Conclusions Multiple demographic and clinical factors influence the severity of treatment-related adverse effects perceived by women surviving cervical cancer. A better understanding of factors influencing patient preferences regarding treatment side effects will allow providers to formulate care better tailored to the individual desires of each patient.

Long-Term Morbidity and Quality of Life in Cervical Cancer Survivors

“…40 Quality of life assessment is defined by individual factors which are changing with time. 41 Physicians should discuss possible disease-related and treatment-related problems before and after treatment.…”

Women's preferences for cancer risk management strategies in Lynch syndrome

“…Visual analog scale.-Using a "feeling thermometer" (19) (Fig. 1) adapted from prior studies (20), women were asked to read each health state description and rank each health state ranging from 0 (least preferred) to 100 (most preferred). Preference scores were calculated by dividing the number corresponding to health state rankings by 100 (i.e., 75/100 = .75).…”

Cervical Cancer Prediction through Different Screening Methods using Data Mining

“…AUROC curve was also used for evaluation of different techniques [18,27] in biomedical data mining. There are 50% of cervical cancer identification in females age (35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41)(42)(43)(44)(45)(46)(47)(48)(49)(50)(51)(52)(53)(54) and around 20% diagnosed more than 65 years old as well as around 15% of between the age of (20 -30). Median age for diagnosis in cervical cancer is 48 years.…”

“…In any case, several young females end up infected with different sorts of human papilloma infection (HPV), which can expand their danger of getting cervical cancer in future. Young females with early abnormal changes who don't have regular checkup are at high risk of cervical cancer when they reach at the age of 40 [43][44][45]. The main risk factor for cervical cancer growth is HPV.…”