"A lot of the times, patients really don't know what questions to ask:" Communication perspectives of Black patients with advanced lung cancer.

The study included only Black patients with advanced lung cancer at three sites in one Mid-Atlantic cancer center, so the themes may not apply to other patients or places. Communication was not the original target of the interviews; it emerged during discussions about palliative care, so other communication themes could have appeared in a study designed to ask about it. The sample was small and used convenience sampling from scheduled thoracic oncology appointments, and one enrolled patient declined the interview. The authors did not ask about smoking status, and lung cancer stigma was not an emergent theme, so stigma-related communication may be under-represented. The study did not compare men and women or examine how other identities intersect with race, so differences within Black patients may be missed. 26 interviews produced themes, not measured effects, so the study cannot show that any communication practice improves symptoms or outcomes.

One author has received grant funding from Pfizer. Another has received consulting fees from Guardant, honoraria for speakers bureau activity from BMS and Merck MSD, and stock in COTA Healthcare. Another has received research funding to their institution from AstraZeneca, Novartis, Regeneron, Janssen, Genentech, Daiichi Sankyo, Gilead, Macrogenics, Boehringer Ingelheim, ORIC Pharmaceuticals, and BlossomHill Therapeutics, and has received payment for consulting with AstraZeneca, Daiichi Sankyo, Eisai, Regeneron, Sanofi, Takeda, J&J, Pinetree, Boehringer Ingelheim, BMS, Bicycle, Bayer, Onviv, Bio-Thera, Molecular Partners, Partner Therapeutics, Natera, Guardant, EMD Serono, Mariana Oncology, Nuvation Bio, Delfi Diagnostics, Caris Life Sciences, and Rayzebio. All other authors declared no conflicts. The supplied text lists conflicts but does not state a funding source for this study.

Do not read these themes as evidence that a communication intervention improves symptom outcomes. The study asked 26 patients about experiences that emerged during interviews not designed to test communication, so it can guide conversations but cannot prove what works.