Awareness of disease among Italian cancer patients: Is there a need for further improvement in patient information?

Background: Studies are available showing that cancer patients in southern Europe may be less well informed about their disease than patients in northern Europe and North America. Patients and methods: In the framework of a survey aimed at exploring the meaning of quality of life for the Italian cancer patient, carried out all over Italy in a one-week time span on 6098 consecutive patients, two visual analogue scales evaluating severity and curability of disease were also submitted to the patients. Four patterns of patients' answers were defined: very easy/difficult-to-cure disease, and not-severe/severe disease. Multifactorial analyses were performed using logistic models for each of the four responses, assuming patient characteristics, time since diagnosis and disease extent as explanatory variables. Results: Only 26% of 2088 patients with disseminated disease believed it to be 'difficult to cure', while 39% felt it to be 'easy to cure'. In the same subgroup of patients, only 47% found their disease `severe'. Conclusions: Authors were impressed by these unexpected results, which are therefore reported separately from the overall analysis of data, aimed at exploring the quality of life domains for the Italian cancer patient. In fact, they would suggest a great lack of awareness of the severity and curability of their disease in a large group of unselected Italian cancer patients. This may depend on various factors, including cross-cultural ones, but could also be partly related to inadequacies in the process by which the Italian patient is informed, and this should be further investigated.