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Discussions About Lifestyle Risk Factors Following a Cancer Diagnosis: Findings from a Sample of Australian Cancer Outpatients

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Abstract

Individuals with a previous cancer diagnosis are at risk of cancer recurrence. However, many cancer survivors do not adhere to lifestyle recommendations to reduce cancer risk. Little is known about the extent to which cancer patients are asked about lifestyle risk factors by healthcare providers following diagnosis. The aim of this study is to determine among Australian cancer survivors the (1) proportion asked about smoking, alcohol consumption, nutrition and physical activity; (2) total number of lifestyle risk factors asked about; and (3) factors associated with being asked about fewer risk factors. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with cancer patients attending outpatient clinics. Eligible patients completed a baseline survey and a second survey 4 weeks later. Data about demographic and disease characteristics, and whether participants had been asked about smoking, alcohol, physical activity and diet since being diagnosed with cancer, was collected. A total of 144 patients were included in the analyses. Following diagnosis, most had been asked about smoking (86%), alcohol consumption (85%), physical activity (80%) and diet (69%) by a healthcare provider. Sixty-one percent of participants reported being asked about all four risk factors; only 6% recalled being asked about none. After controlling for age, participants with a high school or lower education were more likely to be asked about fewer risk factors (OR 2.16; 95%CI 1.0 to 4.6; p = 0.04) compared with those with a trade, vocational or university-level education. Just over one-third of a sample of Australian cancer patients were not asked about all assessed lifestyle risk factors following their diagnosis of cancer. These findings suggest there is scope to improve identification of lifestyle risk factors among cancer survivors.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the study participants, the staff at participating research centres, Jen Engel, Karina Sanson-Fisher and Sandra Dowley for assistance with data entry and study administration and Sarah Nelson and Sandra Sonego for assistance with data collection. Ms. Dodd is now affiliated with Griffith University.

Funding

We acknowledge funding support from a Strategic Research Partnership Grant (CSR 11-02) from the Cancer Council New South Wales to the Newcastle Cancer Control Collaborative (New-3C) and infrastructure funding from the Hunter Medical Research Institute. Dr. Jamie Bryant is supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council-Australian Research Council Dementia Research Development Fellowship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Health Behaviour Research Collaborative, School of Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Health and Medicine, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia

    Jamie Bryant, Heidi Turon, Elise Mansfield, Emilie Cameron & Natalie Dodd

  2. Priority Research Centre for Health Behaviour, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia

    Jamie Bryant, Heidi Turon, Elise Mansfield, Emilie Cameron & Natalie Dodd

  3. Hunter Medical Research Institute, New Lambton Heights, NSW, 2305, Australia

    Jamie Bryant, Heidi Turon, Elise Mansfield, Emilie Cameron & Natalie Dodd

Authors
  1. Jamie Bryant
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  2. Heidi Turon
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  3. Elise Mansfield
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  4. Emilie Cameron
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  5. Natalie Dodd
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Correspondence to Jamie Bryant.

Ethics declarations

This study was approved by the Hunter New England Human Research Ethics Committee (approval number 15/04/15/4.04).

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Research Involving Human Participants

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Bryant, J., Turon, H., Mansfield, E. et al. Discussions About Lifestyle Risk Factors Following a Cancer Diagnosis: Findings from a Sample of Australian Cancer Outpatients. J Canc Educ 35, 1170–1176 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-019-01575-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-019-01575-6

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