The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 277 No 7415 p241
26 August 2006

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Cancer patients skip doses

More than half of breast cancer patients skip doses of their medicines, a Cancer Research UK survey suggests.

Researchers interviewed 131 women with stable breast cancer of whom 55 per cent said they occasionally or frequently did not take their medicines. Of these, 83 per cent said that they did so unintentionally but 17 per cent said that they occasionally or frequently chose not to take their tablets. “Communication about the advantages and disadvantages of respective treatments may improve adherence, especially if women are encouraged to report side effects and are given effective ameliorative treatments for these,” the authors say.