Desire for Information in the Elderly: Interactions with Patients, Family, and Physicians

Lung cancer chemotherapy decisions in patients ≥70 years old are complex. To assess the modes of communication with older lung cancer patients, we prospectively collected data. We assessed patients’ level of knowledge about diagnosis and prognosis. Eighty-three patients diagnosed with lung cancer from January 2006 to February 2008 were recruited from a single center. Logistic regression and multiple imputation methods were used to assess associations between patient information and independent variables. Families received the diagnosis of lung cancer (92.8 %). Family was more protective when the patients were elderly (p 0.036), depressed (p 0.054), had dementia (p 0.03), had poor performance status (p 0.03), or complied with frailty criteria (p 0.014). Physicians who gave cancer diagnoses were not oncologists and they usually gave cancer diagnosis preferably to family members. Only 27.7 % of patients were informed that they had tumors. A 73.5 % of patients actively solicited information; however, elderly and frail patients tended to do so less. A large proportion of elderly lung cancer patients do not receive adequate information about their disease prior to contact with oncologists. However, they do actively ask for information and speak about cancer with oncologists.