From Exclusion to Inclusion: Analysing Follow-up Discontinuity in Breast Cancer

Condition(s) studied

Study summary

The goal of this observational study is to determine the proportion of patients who are lost-to-follow-up at five years, identify factors associated with loss of follow-up , and explore patient-reported barriers to follow-up in a public sector cancer care setting.

The main question it aims to answer is : Do proactive outreach programs help in improving follow-up rates among breast cancer patients who are categorized as "lost-to-follow-up." This study will be conducted in a real-world cohort of women with non-metastatic breast cancer treated at a tertiary care centre, between 2017-2018.

Eligibility

Primary outcome measure(s)

• Improvement in follow-up data with proactive outreach — 6 months
  Follow-up data will be retrieved from hospital records and electronic medical records (EMR) up to December 2024. For patients identified as lost-to-follow-up, proactive outreach efforts will be undertaken via phone calls, messages, or emails. Patients (or their families) will be queried about recurrence of disease, and these responses will be documented as valid follow-up entries.
• Updated mortality data — 6 months
  For patients identified as lost-to-follow-up, proactive outreach efforts will be undertaken via phone calls, messages, or emails. Patients (or their families) will be queried about mortality (if applicable) and these responses will be documented as valid follow-up entries.

Trial sites (1)