Browsing by Author "Kimmick, Gretchen G"

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    Adherence to adjuvant endocrine therapy for breast cancer: importance in women with low income.
    (Journal of women's health (2002), 2015-05) Ursem, Carling J; Bosworth, Hayden B; Shelby, Rebecca A; Hwang, Wenke; Anderson, Roger T; Kimmick, Gretchen G
    There are wide disparities in breast cancer-specific survival by patient sociodemographic characteristics. Women of lower income, for instance, have higher relapse and death rates from breast cancer. One possible contributing factor for this disparity is low use of adjuvant endocrine therapy-an extremely efficacious therapy in women with early stage, hormone receptor positive breast cancer, the most common subtype of breast cancer. Alone, adjuvant endocrine therapy decreases breast cancer recurrence by 50% and death by 30%. Data suggest that low use of adjuvant endocrine therapy is a potentially important and modifiable risk factor for poor outcome in low-income breast cancer patients.
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    Association of self-directed walking with toxicity moderation during chemotherapy for the treatment of early breast cancer.
    (Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, 2023-12) Nyrop, KA; Page, A; Deal, AM; Wagoner, C; Kelly, EA; Kimmick, Gretchen G; Copeland, Anureet; Speca, JoEllen; Wood, William A; Muss, HB

    Background

    In the field of exercise oncology, there is a need to quantify the potential benefits of moderate, self-directed physical activity during active treatment. In a pooled analysis of three identical single-arm intervention studies, we investigate the association of activity tracker steps with patient-reported toxicities during chemotherapy.

    Methods

    Women with early breast cancer who were enrolled in the intervention studies reported their symptom severity every 2-3 weeks throughout chemotherapy, and daily steps were documented through a Fitbit activity tracker. Relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using Poisson regression models with robust variance. For outcomes significant in unadjusted models, adjusted RRs were calculated controlling for race, age, and education level. Tracker step cut point (high step, low step) was determined by the means. Cumulative incidence functions of moderate, severe, and very severe (MSVS) symptoms were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared using a Cox proportional hazard model.

    Results

    In a sample of 283 women, mean age was 56 years and 76% were White. Mean tracker-documented steps/week were 29,625, with 55% walking below the mean (low step) and 45% above (high step). In multivariable analysis, high step patients had lower risk for fatigue [RR 0.83 (0.70, 0.99)] (p = 0.04), anxiety [RR 0.59 (0.42, 0.84)] (p = 0.003), nausea [RR 0.66 (0.46, 0.96)] (p = 0.03), depression [RR 0.59 (0.37, 0.03)] (p = 0.02), and ≥ 6 MSVS symptoms [RR 0.73 (0.54, 1.00)] (p = 0.05) and had 36% lower risk for dose reductions [RR 0.64 (95% CI 0.43, 0.97)] (p = 0.03).

    Conclusion

    Self-directed walking at a rate of at least 30,000 steps/week may moderate the severity of treatment side effects during chemotherapy for early breast cancer.

    Trial numbers

    NCT02167932, NCT02328313, NCT03761706.
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    Congruence of patient- and clinician-reported toxicity in women receiving chemotherapy for early breast cancer.
    (Cancer, 2020-04-21) Nyrop, Kirsten A; Deal, Allison M; Reeve, Bryce B; Basch, Ethan; Chen, Yi Tang; Park, Ji Hye; Shachar, Shlomit S; Carey, Lisa A; Reeder-Hayes, Katherine E; Dees, Elizabeth C; Jolly, Trevor A; Kimmick, Gretchen G; Karuturi, Meghan S; Reinbolt, Raquel E; Speca, JoEllen C; Lee, Jordan T; Wood, William A; Muss, Hyman B
    BACKGROUND:The National Cancer Institute's Patient-Reported Outcomes Version of the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events, collected alongside the clinician-reported Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events, enables comparisons of patient and clinician reports on treatment toxicity. METHODS:In a multisite study of women receiving chemotherapy for early-stage breast cancer, symptom reports were collected on the same day from patients and their clinicians for 17 symptoms; their data were not shared with each other. The proportions of moderate, severe, or very severe patient-reported symptom severity were compared with the proportions of clinician-rated grade 2, 3, or 4 toxicity. Patient-clinician agreement was assessed via κ statistics. Chi-square tests investigated whether patient characteristics were associated with patient-clinician agreement. RESULTS:Among 267 women, the median age was 58 years (range, 24-83 years), and 26% were nonwhite. There was moderate scoring agreement (κ = 0.413-0.570) for 53% of symptoms, fair agreement for 41% (κ = 0.220-0.378), and slight agreement for 6% (κ = 0.188). For example, patient-reported and clinician-rated percentages were 22% and 8% for severe or very severe fatigue, 41% and 46% for moderate fatigue, 32% and 39% for mild fatigue, and 6% and 7% for none. Clinician severity scores were lower for nonwhite patients in comparison with white patients for peripheral neuropathy, nausea, arthralgia, and dyspnea. CONCLUSIONS:Although clinician reporting of symptoms is common practice in oncology, there is suboptimal agreement with the gold standard of patient self-reporting. These data provide further evidence supporting the integration of patient-reported outcomes into oncological clinical research and clinical practice to improve monitoring of symptoms as well as timely interventions for symptoms.