Categorization of Cancer Survivors: Why We Need It

The number of people diagnosed with cancer who live longer than 5 years from diagnosis or end of acute treatment, along with the number of patients who live with cancer in a chronic state, is increasing in industrialized countries. Consequently, survivorship care is now an established branch of oncology and is a growing health care and research priority. Yet, several gaps in the contemporary study of survivorship were identifi ed through an American Society of ClinicalOncology(ASCO)electronicsurveyof679memberswho acted as principal or coprincipal investigators of survivorshiprelated studies and of 838 professionals engaged in survivorship research at National Cancer Institute–designated cancer centers. 1 Identified gaps included the predominance of breast cancer studies, limited research on older survivors, persistent research dearth of long-term (. 5 years) survivors, lack of intervention studies on young survivors, and areas of deficiency in research objectives, such as biologic or genetic components and care delivery. 1 An additional gap in survivorship care and research remains unaddressed—identifi cation of categories of cancer survivors on the basis of clinical and epidemiologic data to provide better tailored care to people who are now lumped together under the umbrella of cancer survivors. In this article, we analyze the reasons for the categorization of cancer survivors and the benefits that may be derived from clinical and organizational categorizations intended to increase physical and psychosocial well-being of patients in a global sociocultural perspective.