A survey of disclosure of diagnosis to patients with glioma in Japan.

BACKGROUND

There have been few studies investigating neuro-oncologists' attitudes toward the disclosure of the diagnosis. This study aimed to determine the current status of disclosure to glioma patients in Japan and to analyze the factors associated with disclosure.

METHODS

A set of questionnaires about disclosure to patients with malignant glioma was distributed by e-mail to 191 physicians participating in the 27th Annual Meeting of the Japan Society for Neuro-Oncology.

RESULTS

The response rate was 73.8% (141/191). Of these, 44.3% disclosed the correct diagnosis to glioblastoma patients aged < 60 years and 41.4% disclosed the correct diagnosis to those aged ≥ 70 years; for anaplastic astrocytoma patients, these proportions were 61.5 and 51.9%, respectively. Physicians working at facilities performing surgery on more than 50 cases of glioma per year, those in metropolitan areas, and those with other patient psychosocial support systems available disclosed the diagnosis and prognosis more frequently. The physicians' gender and postgraduate period of practice did not influence disclosure. When the family opposed disclosing the diagnosis to the patient, more than half of the physicians respected the family's wishes.

CONCLUSIONS

This survey revealed that most of the physicians told at least the malignant nature of the disease to patients with malignant glioma, but they did not always tell the exact diagnosis. Physicians tended to modify their attitudes toward disclosing a diagnosis or prognosis of glioma depending on the histopathological grading, the hospital volume of cases, the location, the availability of patient psychological support systems, and the patient's family's wishes.