Assessing adherence to adjuvant hormone therapy in breast cancer patients in routine clinical practice.

e12532 Background: Adjuvant hormone therapy (HT) in patients with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer (BC) increases overall survival (OS). Adherence to HT in routine clinical practice is still poorly reported. Many BC patients are treated for other diseases and experience polypharmacy. Methods: Objective To assess adherence to HT in routine clinical practice.Materials and Methods: Adjuvant hormone therapy (HT) in patients with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer (BC) increases overall survival (OS). Adherence to HT in routine clinical practice is still poorly reported. Many BC patients are treated for other diseases and experience polypharmacy. Results: A total of 118 patients were included; 65.2% were treated with aromatase inhibitors (AI) and the rest with tamoxifen, with 36% presenting polypharmacy. Treatment adherence was observed in 81% of the patients, and it was associated with age (p=0.03, OR=0.96 for non-adherence), with adherent and non-adherent patients having a median age of 66 and 61.5 years, respectively; however, adherence was not associated with polypharmacy, territory of origin, marital status, living alone, level of education, occupation, or stage. The adherence profile was similar for both drugs, but homemakers and retired women showed greater adherence to AI. Conclusions: Adherence to HT was assessed in real life, with 19% of the patients not adhering to the treatment, despite the known benefit for OS, being a well-tolerated treatment, and being provided free of charge. The most adherent patients were the oldest. The results show the need to investigate the reasons for discontinuing HT, with Pharmacy and Medical Oncology fields combining efforts to develop coordinated strategies and interventions to increase adherence, given the impact that this may have on patients' OS.