Gender-Related Needs and Preferences in Cancer Care Indicate the Need for an Individualized Approach to Cancer Patients

"This study explored the impact of gender on cancer patients' needs and preferences, and found that, of all the patient- and disease-related factors, gender was the most important independent predictor of patient preferences."

(" gender was more important than type of cancer")


"For some types of cancer (e.g., breast, ovarian, gynecological, or prostate cancer), gender and type of cancer are obviously interrelated. If type of cancer is found to be associated with health care preferences, this may be a result of the influence of gender. As our multiple regression analysis showed, gender was more important than type of cancer for most preference variables. Having breast cancer was the strongest independent predictor for only three scales.
Contrary to our expectations, age was not an independent predictor for cancer care needs and preferences. Age was only significant in the simple regression analyses and not in any one of the final models. Satisfaction studies generally show a tendency for older patients to be more satisfied than young and middle-aged patients [25, 26, 32]. Younger patients prefer a more active role in decision making and participation in health care [22, 23]. It is important to realize that our study had a relatively low number of young people with cancer (patients aged 18–35 years comprised only 5% of the study population). This reflects the low incidence of cancer at this young age, but it may lead to an underestimation of the specific needs of young patients. The younger generation today is more educated and trained to find information when needed, is more critical toward authorities, and demands dialog, respect, and good service [28]. During the focus group interviews, young people expressed specific needs and preferences concerning care and treatment, including continued support to reintegrate into their previous daily routine (home, work, school, etc.), clustering patients of roughly the same age during their hospital stays, access to leisure activities, and being able to maintain their own individual daily rhythm. Additional studies of this younger patient group are required.
A possible limitation to our study is patient selection. Because our patient population was recruited through medical oncologists, our findings may only reflect the need of this patient group and not that of other cancer patients. This aspect warrants further study.
Furthermore, the impact of gender may be nationally or culturally determined and not be valid in other countries or cultures.
The results of our study may be used to make health care more patient centered."