Abstract
Background: As the number of breast cancer survivors increases, fatigue, poor physical fitness, and sleep quality issues begin to emerge, and there is a broad range of unmet health care needs.
Objective: To accurately identify and measure the unmet health care needs of breast cancer patients, analyze the impact of sociodemographic factors, clinical characteristics, and other factors on the multiple needs of patients, and identify emerging needs and trends in care in order to provide better health care.
Methods: A cross-sectional study of 6,020 cancer patients in Shanghai, focusing on 2,525 female breast cancer patients, was conducted to investigate their socio-demographic information, financial toxicity grade, physical status, and health care needs, and to explore the relationship among socio-demographic factors, financial toxicity, physical status, and health care service needs through descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression analysis.
Results: The unmet needs of breast cancer patients were concentrated in the areas of health education and social support (1.70 ± 0.85), with the most common needs including information, comorbidity management, sleep guidance, and TCM rehabilitation. Bachelor's degree and above (β=8.06, P<0.001), limited self-care (β=16.29, P=0.01), and moderate financial toxicity (β=14.35, P<0.001) were associated with high levels of unmet medical needs, and tumor secondary/metastasis (β=1.52, P=0.01) was associated with unmet needs for primary medical care, health education, and social support.
Conclusion: The overall health care needs of breast cancer patients are at a low level, and new needs such as comorbidity management, sleep guidance, and Chinese medicine rehabilitation have emerged among patients. In the future, it is necessary to combine multidisciplinary and individual characteristics to provide appropriate health care services.