Social Characteristics and Adherence to Adjuvant Endocrine Therapy in Premenopausal Women With Breast Cancer

Julie A. Schmidt*, Kirsten M. Woolpert, Cathrine F. Hjorth, Dóra K. Farkas, Bent Ejlertsen, Deirdre Cronin-Fenton

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaperJournal articleResearchpeer-review

Abstract

PURPOSESocial characteristics, including cohabitation/marital status and socioeconomic position (SEP)—education level, employment status, and income—influence breast cancer prognosis. We investigated the impact of these social characteristics on adherence to adjuvant endocrine therapy (AET) from treatment initiation to 5 years after diagnosis.METHODSWe assembled a nationwide, population-based cohort of premenopausal women diagnosed in Denmark with stage I-III, estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer during 2002-2011. We ascertained prediagnostic social characteristics from national registries. AET adherence was based on information from the Danish Breast Cancer Group and operationalized as (1) adherence trajectories (from group-based trajectory modeling) and (2) early discontinuation. We computed odds ratios (ORs) and associated 95,353 patients, we identified three adherence trajectories—high adherence (57, slow decline (36, and rapid decline (6.9. Compared with cohabiting women, those living alone had higher ORs of slow (1.26 [95 1.08 to 1.46]) or rapid decline (1.66 [95 1.27 to 2.18]) versus high adherence. The corresponding ORs for women not working versus employed women were 1.22 (95 1.02 to 1.45) and 1.76 (95 1.30 to 2.38). For early discontinuation (17, the ORs were 1.48 (95 1.23 to 1.78) for living alone and 1.44 (95 1.17 to 1.78) for women not working.CONCLUSIONAdherence to AET was lower among women living alone or unemployed than cohabiting or employed women, respectively. These women may benefit from support programs to enhance AET adherence.
Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Clinical Oncology
Number of pages9
ISSN0732-183X
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 2024

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