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The results of a new study indicate that chemotherapy treatments for breast cancer patients under the age of 64 actually cause more harm than previously thought. According to the study, patients suffered three to four times the rate of side effects than was earlier predicted.
Additionally, researchers found that about one in six younger breast cancer patients visited the emergency room or were hospitalized for side effects such as dehydration, low blood count, infection, or nausea.
Prevalence of Chemotherapy Treatments
Every year in the U.S., some 35,000 younger breast cancer patients receive chemo drugs to help with their treatment. However, in many cases, radiation, surgery, and hormone treatments are enough.
While doctors don''t have a surefire way that indicates which patient would benefit most from chemotherapy, the deciding factor is usually based on age since those under 64 are thought to endure the treatment better than older patients.
“We don''t believe our study is saying that chemotherapy is not helpful,” said Dr. Michael Hassett of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and lead author of the study. But, “we''ve been struggling as a professional community to understand which women benefit from chemotherapy.”
The Chemotherapy Risks Study
The study, published in last week''s issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, was the first time the risks of chemotherapy for breast cancer patients under the age of 64 were evaluated.
Hassett and his colleagues gathered a huge database of insurance claims to evaluate how many times patients under 64 went to the hospital in the first year after breast cancer diagnosis, and how often chemotherapy side effects were the culprit of the visit.
The study found that 16 percent of patients who received chemotherapy were hospitalized for related side effects including infection and fever, which affected 8 percent of patients under 64—four times what previous research had predicted.
Furthermore, 61 percent of chemo recipients visited the ER or were hospitalized for some reason (not just chemo side effects) in comparison with 42 percent of breast cancer patients not receiving chemotherapy treatment.
“The study highlights the importance of studying how drugs affect people in everyday medical care” so they are able to “make informed decisions about the risks and benefits of their treatment options,” said Dr. Carolyn Clancy, director of the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, which funded the study.
More information about the risks of chemo treatment is particularly important for patients who opt to take the drugs despite a good prognosis for their cancer, when it might raise their survival odds by less than five percent, according to Dr. Joseph Lau of the Tufts-New England Medical Center.
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