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NewsThe Cochrane Library
Open Access

ARE PHYSICIANS HELP ING CANCER SURVIVORS LIVE HEAL THY LIVES?

Saudi Medical Journal September 2019, 40 (9) 965-966;
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AUGUST 26, 2019 - A recent study indicates that certain physicians who care for patients with cancer do not often promote healthy lifestyle changes to cancer survivors, and they may fear that providing such advice would distress or overwhelm patients. Published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the findings are noteworthy because maintaining a healthy lifestyle is especially important to the long-term well-being of cancer survivors.

Cancer survivors face increased risks of cardiovascular disease and other conditions, and guidelines advise physicians-including oncologists-to encourage cancer survivors to adopt healthy lifestyles to help protect their long-term health.

To investigate the extent to which physicians follow these recommendations, a team led by Tammy Stump, PhD, and Bonnie Spring, PhD, faculty at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, surveyed 91 physicians: 30 primary care physicians; 30 oncologists; and 31 specialists (urologists, gynecologists, and dermatologists) who treat survivors of prostate cancer, breast cancer, and melanoma, respectively. Interviews also were conducted with 12 of the oncologists who were sent the survey.

Among primary care physicians, 90 percent reported recommending health promotion such as weight loss and smoking cessation to at least some cancer survivors. However, only 26.7 percent of oncologists and 9.7 percent of specialists said they ever did so.

In interviews, oncologists expressed fear that promoting healthy lifestyle changes would distress or overwhelm patients. They also noted that they often lack the time and training to make such recommendations to patients. Most physicians believed that at least half of cancer survivors would take their medications properly to prevent cancer recurrence, but they believed that patients would not do so if they were also trying to lose weight

“Even though oncologists clearly believe that cancer survivors should adopt a healthy lifestyle, they don’t have the time to address more than cancer care—that’s their expertise,” said Dr. Stump. “Ultimately, we believe that healthy lifestyle support can be provided to cancer survivors most effectively as part of integrated survivorship care delivered by health promotionists trained in nutrition, physical activity, and behavioral coaching in a program designed with the input of oncologists to meet the specific needs of cancer survivors,” added Dr. Spring.

Full citation: “Physicians’ perspectives on medication adherence and health promotion among cancer survivors.” Tammy K. Stump, June K. Robinson, Betina Yanez, Frank Penedo, Adaeze Ezeofor, Sheetal Kircher, and Bonnie Spring. CANCER; Published Online: August 26, 2019 (DOI: 10.1002/cncr.32410). URL Upon Publication: http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/cncr.32410

Copyright © 2019 The Cochrane Collaboration. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., reproduced with permission.

  • Copyright: © Saudi Medical Journal

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Saudi Medical Journal: 40 (9)
Saudi Medical Journal
Vol. 40, Issue 9
1 Sep 2019
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© 2025 Saudi Medical Journal Saudi Medical Journal is copyright under the Berne Convention and the International Copyright Convention.  Saudi Medical Journal is an Open Access journal and articles published are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (CC BY-NC). Readers may copy, distribute, and display the work for non-commercial purposes with the proper citation of the original work. Electronic ISSN 1658-3175. Print ISSN 0379-5284.

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