Adherence with adjuvant hormonal therapy for breast cancer

Abstract
Nonadherence to oral medication is an increasingly recognized concern in the care of patients with cancer [1]. In women with hormone-sensitive breast cancer, long-term daily oral hormonal therapy has been shown repeatedly in clinical trials to significantly reduce risk of recurrence and improve survival. Every year, hundreds of thousands of women worldwide are recommended to take tamoxifen (TAM) or an aromatase inhibitor for ≥5 years. Patient adherence (taking doses as prescribed) and persistence (not discontinuing the medication entirely) with these agents is essential to the ability of these treatments to improve outcomes.