Breast cancer survivors in online message boards complain regularly about the side effects associated with post-treatment (adjuvant) therapies, and often confess that they are considering ceasing their treatment, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and published in the journal Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety.
The researchers were interested in a class of medications known as aromatase inhibitors (AIs), some of the most common drugs given to prevent recurrence among postmenopausal women in recovery from hormone-receptor positive breast cancer.
In part, due to potentially severe side effects, just under 50 percent of all women who are prescribed the drugs, fail to complete the full prescribed course.
To find out how women who survive breast cancer actually feel about AIs, the researchers analyzed 25,256 message board posts on 12 websites popular with breast cancer survivors, including breastcancer.org, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, and Oprah.com.
“Both the availability and anonymity provided by message boards – and increasingly, other forms of social media such as Twitter and Facebook – offer patients a place to voice concerns and connect with an audience of peers in similar situations,” lead author Jun J. Mao said. “This type of social support can be very valuable to patients who are struggling with side effects.”
Pain complaints most common
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