Past Issues

Objective: This study was to investigate the prevalence of patients with type D personality diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer, and the use of medical expenditure between type D and non-type D personality, following the diagnosis of breast cancer. Methods: We included patients diagnosed with stages 1 and 2 breast cancer at a single regional teaching hospital to study their medical expenses, that of a fi ve-year full course of treatment. During October 1, 2011 and March 31, 2012, questionnaires (N = 212) were administered by hospital staff members in interviews to collect information about patient’s demographic variables and Taiwanese version of Type D Scale-14. Results: The prevalence of type D personality among early-stage breast cancer patients was 37.3%. The patients with and without type D personality were not found to have any signifi cant differences in numbers of outpatient visits, length of hospital stay, outpatient medical expenses, and inpatient medical expenses. Conclusion: This study results revealed that there were no differences existed in expenditure of medical resources between type D and non-type D early-stage breast cancer patients. We suggest that medical resource utilization in breast cancer has become standardized under the current National Health Insurance system.