Big gaps found in "survivorship" care among Latina breast cancer patients in U.S.

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- A new study has found that breast cancer patients among one of the largest and fastest-growing ethnic minority groups in the United States are likely to experience numerous gaps in care following their primary treatment.

Recruited through support groups and health fairs, 74 Latina women, about half of them low-income, uninsured or publicly insured, who had breast cancer participated in a "survivorship" care research by taking part in semi-structured focus groups, and results were published in Public Health Nursing.

Optimal survivorship care includes the prevention of recurrence, new cancer and late effects of cancer treatment; the monitoring or surveillance for cancer and medical, mood and social issues; interventions for the effects of cancer and its treatment; and coordination among specialists and primary care providers to ensure all health needs are met.

However, "results indicate numerous gaps and unmet needs in Latinas' survivorship care experiences, including problems with finances, continuity of care, unmet needs for information, and symptom management," said Carolyn Mendez-Luck, one of the authors of the study and an assistant professor in the College of Public Health and Human Sciences at Oregon State University (OSU).

People of Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Central and South American descent comprise 17.6 percent of the U.S. population, and about 10 percent of the women in the Hispanic/Latino population may develop breast cancer at some point in their lifetime. In addition, they are more likely to be diagnosed at later stages than non-Hispanic whites and face linguistic and cultural barriers to diagnosis and treatment, and there are often financial hurdles, as over 25 percent of Latina women live in poverty and lack health insurance.

"Many survivors experience persisting symptoms including fatigue, pain, depression and sleep disturbance, but until recent years, survivorship has been relatively neglected in education, clinical practice and research," Mendez-Luck said, adding that "the vast majority of participants reported never having heard of them, or associated them with a completely different meaning - making a plan for how their families could carry on after they were gone."

The research showed that depending on the person, "survivor" could have negative or positive connotations. Positive views, Mendez-Luck was quoted as saying by a news release from OSU, included feeling special, strong, and blessed by God. Many survivors felt they had a special purpose for living, often including a mission to serve others.

"A survivorship care plan is meant to be this living document for you and your care providers, a document a patient can follow through this entire process of what's going on with the cancer and what she can do to stay healthy and reduce the chances that the cancer will return," she said. "It makes the patient truly a partner in her own care with health providers."