An Intervention Tool to Increase Patient-Physician Discussion of Lifestyle Risk Factors for Breast Cancer

Abstract

Background: Risk assessment and discussion of lifestyle in primary care are crucial elements of breast cancer prevention and risk reduction. Our objective was to evaluate the impact of a breast cancer risk assessment and education tool on patient-physician discussion of behaviors and breast cancer risk. Materials and Methods: We conducted a randomized controlled trial with an ethnically and linguistically diverse sample of women, ages 40-74, from two primary care practices. Intervention participants completed a tablet computer-based Breast Cancer Risk Assessment and Education (BreastCARE) intervention in the waiting room before a scheduled visit. Both patients and physicians received an individualized risk report to discuss during the visit. Control patients underwent usual care. Telephone surveys assessed patient-physician discussion of weight, exercise, and alcohol use 1 week following the visit. Results: Among the 1235 participants, 27.7% (161/580) intervention and 22.3% (146/655) usual-care patients were high risk for breast cancer. Adjusting for clustering by physician, the intervention increased discussions of regular exercise (odds ratios [OR] = 1.94, 1.50-2.51) and weight (OR = 1.56, 1.23-1.96). There was no effect of the intervention on discussion of alcohol. Women with some college education were more likely to discuss their weight than those with high school education or less (OR = 1.75, 1.03-2.96). Similarly, non-English speakers were more likely to discuss their weight compared with English speakers (OR = 2.33, 1.04-5.22). Conclusions: BreastCARE is a feasible risk assessment tool that can successfully promote discussions about modifiable breast cancer risk factors between patients and primary care physicians.

Keywords: breast cancer risk assessment; health promotion; lifestyle risk; patient–physician discussion.