Santoso Joseph T, Engle David B, Schaffer Londa, Wan Jim Y
Division of Gynecology Oncology, University of Tennessee, Memphis, Tennessee 38104, USA.
Cancer J. 2006 Jan-Feb;12(1):73-6. doi: 10.1097/00130404-200601000-00013.
We evaluated a patient's understanding of his or her cancer (diagnosis, location, stage, status) as a function of age, race, education, income, and marital status.
Patients with cancer were prospectively recruited and surveyed during their outpatient chemotherapy. Survey questions related to demographics, cancer status, location of cancer, stage of disease, prescribed treatment, the treating oncologist, and satisfaction with both the oncologist and medical staff. Each patient's answers to the survey questions were then compared with his or her medical chart. Data analysis was performed with the Chi-square test, logistic regression, and multivariate analysis.
Study participants included 284 patients (38% male, 62% female) (56% African American, 42% Caucasian, 3% others) with a median age of 62 years. Patients correctly answered in regards to their diagnosis (98%), cancer location (91%), and name of their doctor (99%). However, only 23% scored correctly when asked the stage of their cancer. In univariate analysis, younger age (P = 0.006) was the only significant variable in answering the question correctly, while higher income (P = 0.065) and female gender (P = 0.092) approached statistical significance. In multivariate analysis, all three variables were shown to be significant (P values of 0.016, 0.028, and 0.041, respectively). Increasing age resulted in a reduction of 2.5% per year, higher income resulted in an increase of 1.3% per 1000 dollars, and females were 49% more accurate, in the ability to correctly identify the cancer stage.
Although patients seem to know their condition well, many of them do not understand the stage of their cancer. Older patients, patients with lower income, and male patients seem to have less understanding of the stage of their cancer.
我们评估了患者对其癌症情况（诊断、位置、分期、状态）的理解程度与年龄、种族、教育程度、收入及婚姻状况之间的关系。
前瞻性招募癌症患者，并在其门诊化疗期间进行调查。调查问题涉及人口统计学信息、癌症状况、癌症位置、疾病分期、规定的治疗方法、主治肿瘤医生以及对肿瘤医生和医护人员的满意度。然后将每位患者对调查问题的回答与其病历进行比较。采用卡方检验、逻辑回归和多变量分析进行数据分析。
研究参与者包括284名患者（男性38%，女性62%）（非裔美国人56%，白种人42%，其他3%），中位年龄为62岁。患者对其诊断（98%）、癌症位置（91%）和医生姓名（99%）回答正确。然而，当被问及癌症分期时，只有23%回答正确。在单变量分析中，年龄较小（P = 0.006）是正确回答该问题的唯一显著变量，而较高收入（P = 0.065）和女性（P = 0.092）接近统计学显著性。在多变量分析中，所有这三个变量均显示具有显著性（P值分别为0.016、0.028和0.041）。年龄每增加一岁，正确识别癌症分期的能力每年降低2.5%，收入每增加1000美元，正确识别癌症分期的能力增加1.3%，女性正确识别癌症分期的能力比男性高49%。
尽管患者似乎对自己的病情了解得很好，但他们中的许多人并不理解自己癌症的分期。老年患者、低收入患者和男性患者似乎对自己癌症的分期了解较少。
