PURPOSE The development of the adjuvant therapy requires that clinicians and patients should discuss the magnitude of benefit of treatment for individual patient, estimating the pros and cons and the personal preferences. The aim of the present study was to determine the preferences of women treated with adjuvant hormonal therapy (HT) for breast cancer. METHODS The analyses were conducted into three different groups of early breast cancer patients to evaluate the survival benefit needed to make treatment worthwhile before starting HT (A), after a few months from the beginning (B) and after several years of HT (C). The questionnaires, showing hypothetical scenarios based on potential survival times and rates without HT, were used to determine the lowest gains women judged necessary to make the treatment worthwhile. RESULTS A total of 452 patients were included in the study: 149 in group A, 150 in group B and 153 in group C. In group C, 65% of patients were receiving HT with aromatase inhibitors (with or without a LHRH analogue). In the groups A, B, C 8%, 20% and 26%, respectively, received adjuvant chemotherapy. Overall, 355 women (79%) had children. The responses were quite similar between the three groups. A median gain of 10 years was judged necessary to make adjuvant HT worthwhile based on the hypothetical scenario of untreated mean survival time of 5 and 15 years. Median gain of 20% more women surviving was judged necessary to make adjuvant HT worthwhile based on an untreated 5-year survival rate expectation of 60%. Cognitive dysfunction was considered the side effect least compatible with the continuation of treatment in all three groups. CONCLUSIONS This is a large study of patient preferences on HT. Compared with other studies with similar design, the patients included in the present study required larger benefits to make adjuvant therapy worthwhile.

中文翻译：

---

早期乳腺癌内分泌治疗和患者偏好的评估：Elena 研究的结果。

目的 辅助治疗的发展要求临床医生和患者讨论治疗对个体患者的益处的大小，估计利弊和个人偏好。本研究的目的是确定接受辅助激素疗法 (HT) 治疗乳腺癌的女性的偏好。方法 对三组不同的早期乳腺癌患者进行分析，以评估在开始 HT 之前（A）、开始几个月后（B）和 HT 几年后（C）使治疗有价值所需的生存获益. 问卷显示基于潜在存活时间和没有 HT 的比率的假设情景，用于确定女性认为使治疗有价值所需的最低收益。结果 研究共纳入 452 名患者：A 组 149 名、B 组 150 名和 C 组 153 名。在 C 组中，65% 的患者接受 HT 和芳香酶抑制剂（有或没有 LHRH 类似物）。在 A、B、C 组中，分别有 8%、20% 和 26% 的患者接受了辅助化疗。总体而言，355 名妇女（79%）有孩子。三组之间的反应非常相似。根据未治疗的平均存活时间为 5 年和 15 年的假设情况，判断需要 10 年的中位收益才能使辅助 HT 有价值。根据未治疗的 5 年存活率预期为 60%，判断为使辅助性 HT 值得的女性存活率中位数增加 20% 是必要的。在所有三组中，认知功能障碍被认为是与继续治疗最不相容的副作用。结论 这是一项关于 HT 患者偏好的大型研究。与具有类似设计的其他研究相比，本研究中包括的患者需要更大的益处才能使辅助治疗有价值。