Assessing the relationship between symptoms and health care utilization in colorectal cancer survivors of different sexual orientations.

Autor: Boehmer U; Department of Community Health Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health, 801 Massachusetts Avenue, Crosstown Center, Boston, MA, 02118, USA. boehmer@bu.edu., Potter J; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.; Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA.; The Fenway Institute, Boston, MA, USA., Clark MA; University of Massachusetts Medical School, Shrewsbury, MA, USA.; Brown University School of Public Health, Providence, RI, USA., Ozonoff A; Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.; Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA., Winter M; Biostatistics and Epidemiology Data Analytics Center, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA., Berklein F; Biostatistics and Epidemiology Data Analytics Center, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA., Ward KC; Emory University, Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta, GA, USA., Hartshorn K; Section of Hematology Oncology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer [Support Care Cancer] 2021 Oct; Vol. 29 (10), pp. 5821-5830. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Mar 19.
DOI: 10.1007/s00520-021-06157-1
Abstrakt: Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the association of physical and psychological symptoms with health care utilization in sexual minority and heterosexual colorectal cancer survivors.
Methods: Four hundred eighteen colorectal cancer survivors who were in remission an average of 3 years after their diagnosis were surveyed about their non-emergency health care visits during the preceding 3 months. Survivors reported whether they had experienced any of 21 symptoms common among colorectal cancer survivors in the past week. The relation between having had two or more health care visits in the preceding 3 months and symptoms experienced was assessed using logistic regression, controlling for cancer registry, sexual orientation, sex, age, race/ethnicity, income, and comorbidities.
Results: Of the survivors, 12% reported no symptoms, while 12% reported six or more symptoms. Sexual minority survivors reported significantly more weight concerns and more health-related and general anxiety as well as worse body image than heterosexual survivors. Frequent worrying about weight and experiencing sore skin around the anal area or stoma were the two symptoms that significantly contributed towards explaining survivors' increased health care utilization.
Conclusion: Weight concerns, which are more common among the heaviest survivors, may prompt survivors to seek help from health care providers, which may lead to more frequent visits. On the other hand, some symptoms, despite their prevalence, had no relationship with the frequency of health care visits, raising questions about whether survivors share these concerns with providers.
(© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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