The use of risk-reducing medications is quite low, but that’s because only about 5% of women are really appropriate candidates and only a minority of these actually take the medication, Dr. Ebell said.
Just 12% of high-risk women opted to take tamoxifen to reduce their risk for breast cancer in a national survey highlighted by the task force, with 77% of women declining primarily because of concerns about serious adverse events and small therapeutic benefit (Arch. Intern. Med. 2006;166:2260-5).
Further, only 27% of the 350 primary care physicians surveyed had prescribed tamoxifen for breast cancer prevention at least once in the prior 12 months.
"We do need to engage the primary care community more broadly, not just ob.gyns., in this informed decision-making and make sure they are comfortable and confident when they have a patient with questions about chemoprevention," Dr. Ebell said.
Dr. Ebell reported having no financial disclosures.