Factors associated with adherence and persistence to hormonal therapy in women with breast cancer

Hormonal therapy in breast cancer is essential to the transition from active treatment to care survival, because it improves long-term survival and provides a better quality of life. reducing hospital costs as well. However, adherence and persistence in the recommended treatment are important to achieve the desirable results.

This is a cohort retrospective study of 182 women on hormonal treatment identified at a high complexity oncology unit, in the southeastern region of Brazil, and followed-up until 2014. We performed a bivariate analysis to analyze the factors associated with adherence and we conducted the multivariate Cox regression to identify variables associated with discontinuity of treatment over time.

Overall adherence was 85.2% and persistence was 45.4% at the end of 5 years. No association was found between the studied independent variables and adherence. Women with advanced stage (HR = 2.24; 95% confidence interval 1.45 - 3.45), who did not undergo surgery (HR = 3.46; 95%CI 2.00 - 5.97), and with three or more hospitalizations (HR = 6.06; 95%CI 2.53 - 14.54) exhibited increased risk of discontinuity.

The variables associated with persistence reflect the relation between the highest disease severity and the discontinuity of adjuvant hormonal treatment.

Despite the high adherence level, there is a progressive increase in non-persistence among women on hormonal therapy, influenced by characteristics related to disease severity, which contributes to an inadequate therapeutic response.