Breaking Cancer Bad News to Patients With Cancer: A Comprehensive Perspective of Patients, Their Relatives, and the Public—Example From a Middle Eastern Country

Purpose Empowering patients with cancer requires that they be continuously informed about their condition. In some Eastern cultures, this concept is often opposed by caregivers. We aim to compare the extent of disclosure desired by actual and presumed patients with cancer and their relatives in our practice. Methods Nine questions reflecting possible bad news communication to patients from diagnosis to the end of life were designed to investigate the extent of desired disclosure and were answered by 100 patients (cohort I) and 103 accompanying relatives (cohort II) in an outpatient setting. In addition, 103 public participants attending a family medicine clinic (cohort III) each answered the questions from the perspective of a presumed patient (cohort IIIA) and the perspective of a relative (cohort IIIB). The primary end point was affirmative response to six or more questions (AR ≥ 6), reflecting a preference to be informed of the majority (≥ 67%) of possible bad news. Results AR ≥ 6 was reported in 85% of cohort I and 52% of cohort II (χ 2 P < .001). On multivariable analysis, AR ≥ 6 showed significant association with being a patient (in cohorts I and II) and having nonmetastatic disease (only in cohort I). In the public cohort, AR ≥ 6 was reported in 91% in cohort IIIA and 63% in cohort IIIB (χ 2 P < .001). On multivariable analysis, AR ≥ 6 in cohort III was significantly associated with being a presumed patient and having at least a college education. Conclusion Patients desire disclosure of the majority of cancer-related bad news. This is in contrast to the views and requests of relatives. The public participants would also desire similar disclosure if they were to be diagnosed with cancer.