Majority of women REJECTING potentially life-saving drugs that can help them BEAT cancer



The majority of women are avoiding preventative breast cancer drugs



A HUGE number of women are rejecting potentially life-saving drugs for the treatment of Breast Cancer, a major cancer charity says.

Cancer Research UK has revealed that five in six women with increased risk of breast cancer are turning down drugs designed to help prevent the disease.

Medication used for breast cancer prevention include tamoxifen and raloxifine, and are usually administered on a clinical trial or by a specialist, once referred by a doctor.

Women are offered drugs to cause cancer-causing hormones and annual mammograms if they have a family history of breast cancer or, in some way, are more susceptible to the disease.

Researchers looked in to 26 international studies totalling details of 21,000 women of all ages who were at increased risk of development breast cancer.

 



Women are often offered drugs as part of a clinical trial



All of the women had been offered a five-year course of preventative medicine to lower their risk of developing the disease, but just 16.3 per cent - one in six - took up the offer.

Interestingly, more women, around 25 per cent, opted to take the drugs if as part of a trial, compared to nine per cent of women who took preventative medicine outside of a clinical trial.

Researchers also discovered that when women took the drugs on a clinical trial, 80 per cent took the drug for over a year, but this declined over the five-year period.

Study author, Dr Sam Smith, from Queen Mary University of London, said: “Our important research reveals that only a small proportion of eligible women make the decision to have preventative medication.

 



Just one in SIX took up the offer of taking preventative breast cancer medicine



“It’s crucial to find out why so many chose not to take the drugs – or stopped taking them before completing the course.”

The researchers plan to investigate exactly so women are turning down the life saving drugs, although it could be do do with side effects and other perceived ‘cons’ putting people off. 

Mum-of-three Trish Jamieson, 62, lost her sister Noreen to breast cancer at the age of 38 in 1992 and also had a family history of the disease. 

She was considered at higher risk and signed up to the IBIS II trial designed to show whether a drug called anastrozole could prevent breast cancer in women at increased risk.
 

It is not known exactly why women deny the preventative drug treatment

She finished taking the pills in March 2011. 

It is believed that the results of the trial could help prevent thousands of women from developing breast cancer in the future.

She said: “I lost my sister to breast cancer and this meant I was also at a higher risk of developing the disease. And when I was offered anastrozole as part of the IBIS II trial I decided to take it, being eligible for the trial.

“It’s not for everyone but I weighed up the pros and cons – which can include side effects – and decided it was something that I wanted to do. It’s definitely a personal choice but I was glad to have been given this option.”