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Enhancing Research on Cancer Survivors

John Z. Ayanian, Paul B. Jacobsen

From the Department of Medicine, Division of General Medicine and Primary Care, Brigham and Women's Hospital; Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; Departments of Psychology and Interdisciplinary Oncology, University of South Florida; and Health Outcomes and Behavior Program, Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL

Address reprint requests to John Z. Ayanian, MD, MPP, Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, 180 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115; e-mail: ayanian{at}hcp.med.harvard.edu

The United States devotes substantial resources to understanding the etiologies of cancer and improving treatments, but much less research has focused on the needs of cancer survivors after they have completed active treatment. This article augments findings from the Institute of Medicine about cancer survivorship research and ways to enhance quality of life and quality of care. Studies of cancer survivors should focus on mechanisms and risk factors for impaired quality of life and evaluate interventions to improve this domain. Research to improve quality of care should concentrate on survivorship care plans, surveillance tests, respective roles of primary and specialty care, and performance measures related to survivorship care. Opportunities to expand research on cancer survivors include clinical trials, large cohort studies, cancer registries, and national surveys. Research to understand the needs of cancer survivors will provide a foundation for effective programs to meet these needs.

Supported by Grants No. U01 CA93324 (J.Z.A.) and P20 CA103676 (P.B.J) from the National Cancer Institute.

Authors' disclosures of potential conflicts of interest and author contributions are found at the end of this article.

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