Symptom management after breast cancer treatment: is it influenced by patient characteristics?

 Asian women 55–70 years were not available for this study as they had already been assigned to a different study protocol. ^†224 patients identified by Rapid Case Ascertainment were excluded for the following reasons: male gender (5), false positive pathology (1), breast cancer diagnosis later than study window (17), no breast cancer diagnosis (62), breast cancer not incident (139). ^‡333 patients identified by Rapid Case Ascertainment were not eligible for patient survey for the following reasons: physician indicated survey contact with patient could adversely affect patient (usually for mental health reasons—16), patient did not live in or receive care in Los Angeles County (other than diagnosis—19), patient was deceased and could not be surveyed (81), patient had clinical problem precluding self-report survey (severe dementia—52, hearing impairment unable to be surveyed by phone despite several attempts using technology for hearing impaired calls—29, too ill with medical problems—39), patient spoke neither English nor Spanish—the two languages in which the survey was fielded (97). ^§704 patients refused survey participation (of 1,590 eligible) including 420 who refused at baseline survey and the remaining 284 who could not be located at baseline but finally refused at follow-up survey two years after diagnosis. **50 patients completed the baseline survey at 24 months post diagnosis, rather than at the time of the baseline survey fielding. Their symptom data will be described in a subsequent manuscript in association with the follow-survey data 24 months after diagnosis. ^††Symptoms were asked about individually including: hot flashes, difficulty sleeping, arm problems, vaginal dryness, nausea, and vomiting