What is The GAEA Initiative?
Breast cancer is the most common form of the disease among women in the Western world. Approximately 350,000 women in Europe are diagnosed with breast cancer each year and recurrence of the disease occurs in 20-30% of women who have undergone surgery aimed at curing it. Adjuvant Endocrine Therapy is taken to reduce this risk of recurrence. Until now, little was known about women’s experience of and knowledge about Adjuvant Endocrine Therapy and their understanding of the risk of recurrence. The GAEA Initiative set out to determine post-menopausal patients’ knowledge about the risk of recurrence in early breast cancer, define their understanding of the purpose of Adjuvant Endocrine Therapy, their attitudes towards Adjuvant Endocrine Therapy and to identify their informational and support needs, and how these can be met.
GAEA (the Greek Goddess of the earth) stands for Gathering Information on Adjuvant Endocrine TherApy.
A quantitative survey which forms part of The GAEA Initiative was conducted among post-menopausal women in nine European countries: Austria, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. A total of 547 questionnaires were analysed.
Information obtained from the survey has helped identify gaps in informational and support needs and will guide the development of targeted educational and support initiatives for patients with breast cancer who are taking adjuvant endocrine therapy.