Author Interviews, Cancer Research / 21.12.2015
Many Patients With Metastatic Cancer Continue To Work
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Amye Tevaarwerk, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Hematology/Oncology Section
University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
Carbone Comprehensive Cancer Center
Wisconsin Institute for Medical Research (WIMR)
Madison, WI
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Tevaarwerk: These patients were enrolled on a larger clinical trial known as the Symptom Outcomes and Practice Patterns study (SOAPP). SOAPP recruited breast, prostate, colon and lung cancer patients directly during outpatient oncology follow-up visits. All of the patients were recruited between May 2006 and May 2008.
The parent study recruited 3123 patients, of these 680 patients had metastatic disease and 668 had employment data.
Patients were asked if they were working and if there had been a change due to illness. We were able to compare those stably working with those who had changed to "no longer working" and look at factors that associated with this change (age, gender, cancer type, race/ethnicity, time since diagnosis, location of metastatic disease, type of treatment, performance status, number of metastases, symptom burden.)
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