• Sriram Yennurajalingam, Luis Fernando Rodrigues, Omar Shamieh, Colombe Tricou, Marilène Filbet, Kyaw Naing, Akhileshwaran Ramaswamy, Pedro Emilio Perez-Cruz, Mary Jocelyn S Bautista, Sofia Bunge, Mary Ann Muckaden, Vikash Sewram, Sarah Fakrooden, Antonio Noguera-Tejedor, Shobha S Rao, Diane Liu, Minjeong Park, Janet L Williams, Zhanni Lu, Hilda Cantu, David Hui, Suresh K Reddy, and Eduardo Bruera.
• Department of Palliative Care, Rehabilitation, and Integrative Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Barretos, Brazil syennu@mdanderson.org.
• Oncologist. 2018 Apr 1; 23 (4): 501-506.

BackgroundThere are limited data on illness understanding and perception of cure among advanced cancer patients around the world. The aim of the study was to determine the frequency and factors associated with inaccurate perception of curability among advanced cancer patients receiving palliative care across the globe.Materials And MethodsSecondary analysis of a study to understand the core concepts in end-of-life care among advanced cancer patients receiving palliative care from 11 countries across the world. Advanced cancer patients were surveyed using a Patient Illness Understanding survey and Control Preference Scale. Descriptive statistics and multicovariate logistic regression analysis were performed.ResultsFifty-five percent (763/1,390) of patients receiving palliative care inaccurately reported that their cancer is curable. The median age was 58, 55% were female, 59% were married or had a partner, 48% were Catholic, and 35% were college educated. Sixty-eight percent perceived that the goal of therapy was "to get rid of their cancer," and 47% perceived themselves as "seriously ill." Multicovariate logistic regression analysis shows that accurate perception of curability was associated with female gender (odds ratio [OR] 0.73, p = .027), higher education (OR 0.37, p < .0001), unemployment status (OR 0.69, p = .02), and being from France (OR 0.26, p < .0001) and South Africa (OR 0.52, p = .034); inaccurate perception of curability was associated with better Karnofsky performance status (OR 1.02 per point, p = .0005), and being from Philippines (OR 15.49, p < .0001), Jordan (OR 8.43, p < .0001), Brazil (OR 2.17, p = .0037), and India (OR 2.47, p = .039).ConclusionInaccurate perception of curability in advanced cancer patients is 55% and significantly differs by gender, education, performance status, employment status, and country of origin. Further studies are needed to develop strategies to reduce this misperception of curability in advanced cancer patients.Implications For PracticeThe findings of this study indicate that inaccurate perception of curability among advanced cancer patients is 55%. Inaccurate perception of curability significantly differs by gender, education, performance status, employment status, and country of origin. There is great need to facilitate improved patient-physician communication so as to improve health care outcomes and patient satisfaction.© AlphaMed Press 2017.

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