Scientists are surprized we don't want drugs for things we don't yet have?
This NY Times article is one of many talking about how almost no women are choosing to take breast-cancer prevention drug tamoxifen. Doctors and researchers seem concerned about this and are working hard to figure out why, when the reasons seem fairly obvious.
"When the numbers were laid out for them in a way they could clearly understand, they weren't interested in taking tamoxifen," said Angela Fagerlin, associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan and the lead author of the study, published in the journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment. "They didn’t think the benefits of tamoxifen outweighed the risks."
Let's look at those numbers. Out of 1,000 women classified as at high risk of breast cancer, 19 will contract it in five years without tamoxifen. With it:
"When the numbers were laid out for them in a way they could clearly understand, they weren't interested in taking tamoxifen," said Angela Fagerlin, associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan and the lead author of the study, published in the journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment. "They didn’t think the benefits of tamoxifen outweighed the risks."
Let's look at those numbers. Out of 1,000 women classified as at high risk of breast cancer, 19 will contract it in five years without tamoxifen. With it:
- 9 of those 19 will avoid breast cancer. Good.
- 21 will instead get endometrial cancer. This might be a more treatable cancer, but come guys, it's still cancer.
- 21 would develop blood clots. Depending on location and severity these can be just a nuisance, and sometimes can kill or cause brain damage.
- 31 would develop cataracts. Maybe not fatal, but if vision loss is bad enough it's profoundly life-altering
- 12 would develop sexual problems. Less scary than the above, but still not good.