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BackgroundLimited information is available for patients with breast cancer (BC) and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), especially among underrepresented racial/ethnic populations.MethodsThis is a COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium (CCC19) registry-based retrospective cohort study of females with active or history of BC and laboratory-confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection diagnosed between March 2020 and June 2021 in the US. Primary outcome was COVID-19 severity measured on a five-level ordinal scale, including none of the following complications, hospitalization, intensive care unit admission, mechanical ventilation, and all-cause mortality. Multivariable ordinal logistic regression model identified characteristics associated with COVID-19 severity.Results1383 female patient records with BC and COVID-19 were included in the analysis, the median age was 61 years, and median follow-up was 90 days. Multivariable analysis revealed higher odds of COVID-19 severity for older age (aOR per decade, 1.48 [95% CI, 1.32-1.67]); Black patients (aOR 1.74; 95 CI 1.24-2.45), Asian Americans and Pacific Islander patients (aOR 3.40; 95 CI 1.70-6.79) and Other (aOR 2.97; 95 CI 1.71-5.17) racial/ethnic groups; worse ECOG performance status (ECOG PS ≥2: aOR, 7.78 [95% CI, 4.83-12.5]); pre-existing cardiovascular (aOR, 2.26 [95% CI, 1.63-3.15])/pulmonary comorbidities (aOR, 1.65 [95% CI, 1.20-2.29]); diabetes mellitus (aOR, 2.25 [95% CI, 1.66-3.04]); and active and progressing cancer (aOR, 12.5 [95% CI, 6.89-22.6]). Hispanic ethnicity, timing, and type of anti-cancer therapy modalities were not significantly associated with worse COVID-19 outcomes. The total all-cause mortality and hospitalization rate for the entire cohort was 9% and 37%, respectively however, it varied according to the BC disease status.ConclusionsUsing one of the largest registries on cancer and COVID-19, we identified patient and BC-related factors associated with worse COVID-19 outcomes. After adjusting for baseline characteristics, underrepresented racial/ethnic patients experienced worse outcomes compared to non-Hispanic White patients.FundingThis study was partly supported by National Cancer Institute grant number P30 CA068485 to Tianyi Sun, Sanjay Mishra, Benjamin French, Jeremy L Warner; P30-CA046592 to Christopher R Friese; P30 CA023100 for Rana R McKay; P30-CA054174 for Pankil K Shah and Dimpy P Shah; KL2 TR002646 for Pankil Shah and the American Cancer Society and Hope Foundation for Cancer Research (MRSG-16-152-01-CCE) and P30-CA054174 for Dimpy P Shah. REDCap is developed and supported by Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research grant support (UL1 TR000445 from NCATS/NIH). The funding sources had no role in the writing of the manuscript or the decision to submit it for publication.Clinical trial numberCCC19 registry is registered on ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04354701.

PURPOSE Oral anticancer drugs (OACDs) have become increasingly prevalent over the past decade. OACD prescriptions require coordination between payers and providers, which can delay drug receipt. We examined the association between insurance type, pursuit of copayment assistance, pursuit of prior authorization (PA), and time to receipt (TTR) for new OACD prescriptions. METHODS We prospectively collected data on new OACD prescriptions for adult oncology patients from January 1, 2018, to December 31, 2019, including demographic and clinical characteristics, insurance type, and pursuit of PA and copayment assistance. TTR was defined as the number of days from prescription to OACD receipt. We summarized TTR using cumulative incidence and compared TTR by insurance type, pursuit of copayment assistance, and PA activity using the logrank test. RESULTS Our cohort of 1,024 patients was 53% male, and 40% were younger than 65. Twenty-six percent had commercial insurance only, 16% had Medicaid only, and 59% had Medicare with or without additional insurance. Eighty-six percent of prescriptions were successfully received. Across all prescriptions, 69% involved PA activity, and 21% involved the copayment assistance process. In unadjusted analyses, prescriptions involving the copayment assistance process had longer TTR compared with those not involving assistance (log-rank P value = .005) and OACDs covered by Medicare/commercial insurance had a longer TTR compared with Medicaid (log-rank P value = .006). The PA process was not associated with TTR (log-rank P value = .124). CONCLUSION The process for obtaining OACDs is complex. The copayment assistance process and Medicare/commercial insurance are associated with delayed TTR. New policies are needed to reduce time to OACD receipt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Medication nonadherence is common among patients with breast cancer (BC) and increases BC mortality and complications from comorbidities. There is growing interest in mobile health interventions such as smartphone applications (apps) to promote adherence., Methods: Use of Medisafe, a medication reminder and tracking app, was tested over 12 weeks among patients on BC treatment and at least one oral medication. Study participants were instructed to generate adherence reports every 4 weeks through Medisafe and were deemed to have completed the intervention if >50% of reports were generated. The primary end point was feasibility of the intervention, defined as a completion rate of ≥75% of consented patients. Secondary end points included changes in self-reported nonadherence from baseline to 12 weeks and patient-reported outcomes including reasons for nonadherence and satisfaction with Medisafe. We conducted univariable and multivariable analyses to evaluate demographic and clinical factors associated with intervention completion., Results: Among 100 patients enrolled, 78 (78.0%) completed the intervention. Age, race, ethnicity, clinical stage, and type of medication were not associated with odds of intervention completion. Self-reported nonadherence rates did not improve from baseline to postintervention in the overall study population. However, among patients with self-reported nonadherence at baseline, 26.3% reported adherence postintervention; these patients frequently reported logistical barriers to adherence. Study participants reported high levels of satisfaction with Medisafe, noting that the app was highly functional and provided high-quality information., Conclusion: Smartphone apps such as Medisafe are feasible and associated with high patient satisfaction. They may improve adherence in nonadherent patients and those who face logistical challenges interfering with medication-taking. Future trials of mobile health interventions should target patients at high risk for medication nonadherence.

Background: COVID-19 can have a particularly detrimental effect on patients with cancer, but no studies to date have examined if the presence, or site, of metastatic cancer is related to COVID-19 outcomes., Methods: Using the COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium (CCC19) registry, the authors identified 10,065 patients with COVID-19 and cancer (2325 with and 7740 without metastasis at the time of COVID-19 diagnosis). The primary ordinal outcome was COVID-19 severity: not hospitalized, hospitalized but did not receive supplemental O 2 , hospitalized and received supplemental O 2 , admitted to an intensive care unit, received mechanical ventilation, or died from any cause. The authors used ordinal logistic regression models to compare COVID-19 severity by presence and specific site of metastatic cancer. They used logistic regression models to assess 30-day all-cause mortality., Results: Compared to patients without metastasis, patients with metastases have increased hospitalization rates (59% vs. 49%) and higher 30 day mortality (18% vs. 9%). Patients with metastasis to bone, lung, liver, lymph nodes, and brain have significantly higher COVID-19 severity (adjusted odds ratios [ORs], 1.38, 1.59, 1.38, 1.00, and 2.21) compared to patients without metastases at those sites. Patients with metastasis to the lung have significantly higher odds of 30-day mortality (adjusted OR, 1.53; 95% confidence interval, 1.17-2.00) when adjusting for COVID-19 severity., Conclusions: Patients with metastatic cancer, especially with metastasis to the brain, are more likely to have severe outcomes after COVID-19 whereas patients with metastasis to the lung, compared to patients with cancer metastasis to other sites, have the highest 30-day mortality after COVID-19., (© 2024 American Cancer Society.)

Background: Limited information is available for patients with breast cancer (BC) and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), especially among underrepresented racial/ethnic populations., Methods: This is a COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium (CCC19) registry-based retrospective cohort study of females with active or history of BC and laboratory-confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection diagnosed between March 2020 and June 2021 in the US. Primary outcome was COVID-19 severity measured on a five-level ordinal scale, including none of the following complications, hospitalization, intensive care unit admission, mechanical ventilation, and all-cause mortality. Multivariable ordinal logistic regression model identified characteristics associated with COVID-19 severity., Results: 1383 female patient records with BC and COVID-19 were included in the analysis, the median age was 61 years, and median follow-up was 90 days. Multivariable analysis revealed higher odds of COVID-19 severity for older age (aOR per decade, 1.48 [95% CI, 1.32-1.67]); Black patients (aOR 1.74; 95 CI 1.24-2.45), Asian Americans and Pacific Islander patients (aOR 3.40; 95 CI 1.70-6.79) and Other (aOR 2.97; 95 CI 1.71-5.17) racial/ethnic groups; worse ECOG performance status (ECOG PS ≥2: aOR, 7.78 [95% CI, 4.83-12.5]); pre-existing cardiovascular (aOR, 2.26 [95% CI, 1.63-3.15])/pulmonary comorbidities (aOR, 1.65 [95% CI, 1.20-2.29]); diabetes mellitus (aOR, 2.25 [95% CI, 1.66-3.04]); and active and progressing cancer (aOR, 12.5 [95% CI, 6.89-22.6]). Hispanic ethnicity, timing, and type of anti-cancer therapy modalities were not significantly associated with worse COVID-19 outcomes. The total all-cause mortality and hospitalization rate for the entire cohort was 9% and 37%, respectively however, it varied according to the BC disease status., Conclusions: Using one of the largest registries on cancer and COVID-19, we identified patient and BC-related factors associated with worse COVID-19 outcomes. After adjusting for baseline characteristics, underrepresented racial/ethnic patients experienced worse outcomes compared to non-Hispanic White patients., Funding: This study was partly supported by National Cancer Institute grant number P30 CA068485 to Tianyi Sun, Sanjay Mishra, Benjamin French, Jeremy L Warner; P30-CA046592 to Christopher R Friese; P30 CA023100 for Rana R McKay; P30-CA054174 for Pankil K Shah and Dimpy P Shah; KL2 TR002646 for Pankil Shah and the American Cancer Society and Hope Foundation for Cancer Research (MRSG-16-152-01-CCE) and P30-CA054174 for Dimpy P Shah. REDCap is developed and supported by Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research grant support (UL1 TR000445 from NCATS/NIH). The funding sources had no role in the writing of the manuscript or the decision to submit it for publication., Clinical Trial Number: CCC19 registry is registered on ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04354701., Competing Interests: GN, SV, AK, TS, NK, DA, JA, JA, ZB, NB, TB, BB, SB, MB, PB, SB, BB, HB, CC, HC, JD, AD, NE, LF, DF, CF, MG, CG, PG, SG, MH, HH, DH, CH, CJ, SJ, MJ, VK, EK, NK, VK, AK, DK, CL, PL, KL, ML, XL, GL, GL, DM, AM, MM, SM, RM, IM, VM, RN, SN, RN, TN, TO, OP, KP, JP, KP, JP, HP, MP, YR, PR, SR, JR, DR, MR, SR, AR, LS, PS, MS, LS, MS, DS, MS, LT, MT, ST, LW, GW, MW, EW, SM, BF, JW, ML, MA, DS No competing interests declared

There have been significant advances in the treatment of cancer in the past decade. However, patients continue to suffer from significant side effects of antineoplastic agents that greatly affect their quality of life (QOL), including chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV), chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), and chemotherapy-induced alopecia (CIA). This review aims to provide an updated overview of emerging strategies for the management and prevention of these immediate and long-lasting side effects. The use of integrative medicine including cannabis continues to evolve in the realm of CINV and cancer-related anorexia. Although no pharmaceutical agent has been approved for the prevention of CIPN, cryotherapy, compression therapy and, more recently, cryocompression therapy have shown benefit in small trials, but there are concerns with tolerability especially related to cryotherapy. More data are necessary to determine an effective and tolerable option to prevent CIPN in large, randomized studies. Scalp cooling (SC), which has a similar mechanism to cryotherapy and compression therapy for CIPN prevention, has proven to be an effective and tolerable approach in randomized studies and has significantly limited CIA, an entity that definitively affects the QOL of patients living with cancer. Taken together, cannabis, cryotherapy, compression and cryocompression therapy, and SC all strive to improve the QOL of patients living with cancer by minimizing the side effects of chemotherapeutic agents.

Background: Sedative-hypnotic medications are used to treat chemotherapy-related nausea, anxiety, and insomnia. However, prolonged sedative-hypnotic use can lead to dependence, misuse, and increased health-care use. We aimed to estimate the rates at which patients who receive adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer become new persistent users of sedative-hypnotic medications, specifically benzodiazepines and nonbenzodiazepine sedative-hypnotics (Z-drugs)., Methods: Using the MarketScan health-care claims database, we identified sedative-hypnotic-naïve patients who received adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer. Patients who filled 1 and more prescriptions during chemotherapy and 2 and more prescriptions up to 1 year after chemotherapy were classified as new persistent users. Univariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to estimate odds of new persistent use and associated characteristics., Results: We identified 22 039 benzodiazepine-naïve patients and 23 816 Z-drug-naïve patients who received adjuvant chemotherapy from 2008 to 2017. Among benzodiazepine-naïve patients, 6159 (27.9%) filled 1 and more benzodiazepine prescriptions during chemotherapy, and 963 of those (15.6%) went on to become new persistent users. Among Z-drug-naïve patients, 1769 (7.4%) filled 1 and more prescriptions during chemotherapy, and 483 (27.3%) became new persistent users. In both groups, shorter durations of chemotherapy and receipt of opioid prescriptions were associated with new persistent use. Medicaid insurance was associated with new persistent benzodiazepine use (odds ratio = 1.88, 95% confidence interval = 1.43 to 2.47) compared with commercial or Medicare insurance., Conclusions: Patients who receive sedative-hypnotic medications during adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer are at risk of becoming new persistent users of these medications after chemotherapy. Providers should ensure appropriate sedative-hypnotic use through tapering dosages and encouraging nonpharmacologic strategies when appropriate., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)