Women With Breast Cancer Do Not Get Potentially Life-Saving Information, Newly Published Survey Results Reveal

Milan, Italy and Stockholm, Sweden (ots/PRNewswire) -

- Three-Quarters of Women Were Not Told Their Risk of Recurrence

- Older, Less Educated Women or Those Without Internet Access are
Particularly Uninvolved and Uninformed

- New Tools, Better Communication Between Health Care
Professionals and Patients Needed to Help Close This Gap

New published data from a large pan-European survey indicate that
the majority of postmenopausal women with early breast cancer taking
post- surgical endocrine therapy are not involved in making key
decisions about their treatment, nor are they given sufficient
information to make informed treatment choices that could affect
their long-term outcome.

Although 96% of the women surveyed said their health provider was
their main source of information, only one-quarter reported being
told their risk of breast cancer recurrence, less than half were made
aware of treatment options, and nearly one-third did not receive
information about possible side effects, according to the results
published in The Breast (available online in April; print edition
expected in volume 16, 2007). In addition, 2 out of 5 women (41%)
reported they were not at all involved in the decision to start
adjuvant endocrine therapy.

The survey, part of The GAEA Initiative, involved 547
post-menopausal women with early breast cancer from nine European
countries. It was designed to find out women's knowledge and
understanding about adjuvant endocrine (hormone) therapy and their
risk of recurrence, their involvement in treatment decision-making
and their information and support needs.

"The survey results clearly indicate that the information needs of
women receiving adjuvant endocrine therapy are not being met. These
women told us that they want more information about treatments,
especially side effects," said GAEA steering committee member Yvonne
Wengström, President of the European Oncology Nursing Society and
from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden. "Women rely on
their health care professional for information, but they are not
informed about why a particular treatment has been prescribed and the
potential benefits and consequences of that therapy. It is alarming
that many women were not even told about available treatment choices
to reduce their risk of recurrence."

A woman's risk of breast cancer recurrence is a critical factor in
weighing different treatments. Aromatase inhibitors, a newer class of
endocrine drugs, have been shown to be significantly more effective
than tamoxifen in reducing the chance of breast cancer coming back
after surgery in postmenopausal women with hormone-sensitive early
breast cancer.

Half of the women surveyed were being treated with tamoxifen,
indicating that many women are not getting the most advanced
treatment option. The survey results also revealed that older, less
educated women or those without Internet access were less likely to
receive information or be involved in decision making. In fact, 57%
of older women (those over age 71) were not involved at all in their
treatment decision, compared to 22% of younger women.

Insight obtained from the survey has helped identify gaps in
informational and support needs and will guide the development of
targeted educational and support initiatives for patients with breast
cancer who are taking adjuvant endocrine therapy. The publication of
the survey results is an important first step in raising awareness
among health professionals that communication with patients is
sub-optimal.

"Failing to involve our patients in making treatment decision and
not giving them the information they need to make these decisions
means that as doctors, we are not meeting our patients needs," said
Dr Alberto Costa, Director of the European School of Oncology (ESO)
and a member of the GAEA steering committee. "While these survey
results are distressing, they provide ESO with the foundation to
develop new tools that will help doctors communicate more effectively
with their patients regarding their disease and its treatment."

Not surprisingly, women who were the most actively involved in the
decision to start hormone treatment were provided with more
information on side effects and treatment duration compared to women
who were not involved. Actively involved patients also received more
information on the benefits of taking long term adjuvant therapy and
the risk of their breast cancer returning.

"We know that well-informed and active patients get better
treatment, so it is encouraging to see at least some of the women
surveyed fall into this category", said Ingrid Kössler, President of
Europa Donna - the European Breast Cancer Coalition. "All patients
deserve the best available therapy for their individual situation.
However, there is clearly a knowledge divide among breast cancer
patients, and we must develop new solutions to address the needs of
older and less-educated women."

Breast cancer is the most common form of the disease among women
in the Western world. Approximately 350,000 women in Europe are
diagnosed with breast cancer each year and recurrence of the disease
occurs in 20-30% of women who have undergone surgery aimed at curing
it. Adjuvant endocrine therapy is taken to reduce this risk of
recurrence.

For further information about The GAEA Initiative, please go
to www.gaeainitiative.eu

Notes to Editors:

About The GAEA Initiative and Patient Survey

The GAEA Initiative is a collaboration between ESO, EONS and
Novartis Oncology. The survey, which is part of the Initiative, set
out to determine post-menopausal patients' knowledge about the risk
of recurrence in early breast cancer, define their understanding of
the purpose of adjuvant endocrine treatment, their attitudes towards
adjuvant endocrine treatment and to identify their informational and
support needs and how these can be met. Europa Donna, the Breast
Cancer Coalition, acted as a patient advocacy resource to the GAEA
Initiative.

The GAEA patient survey was conducted among post-menopausal breast
cancer patients undergoing adjuvant endocrine therapy in nine
European countries: Austria (n=34); France (n=92); Germany (n=82);
Hungary (n=34); Italy (n=90); Spain (n=71); Sweden (n=36);
Switzerland (n=12) and the United Kingdom (96). A total of 547
questionnaires were analysed. Women were eligible to complete the
survey if they had been diagnosed with early breast cancer (defined
as localised to the breast tissue and/or nearby lymph nodes), were
post-menopausal, currently receiving adjuvant endocrine treatment
that commenced at least one year ago.

For further information about The GAEA Initiative, please go to:

www.gaeainitiative.eu

www.thebreastonline.com /
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.breast.2007.02.007

or contact Clare Fletcher or Monica Gounaropoulos, as above.

ots Originaltext: The GAEA Initiative
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Contact:
To arrange an interview with a GAEA spokesperson, please contact:
Clare Fletcher, Monica Gounaropoulos, +44-207-798-9900,
info@gaeainitiative.eu