Death or debt? National estimates of financial toxicity in persons with newly diagnosed cancer: The American Journal of Medicine

“Across 9.5 million estimated new diagnoses of cancer from 2000–2012, individuals averaged 68.6±9.4 years with slight majorities being married (54.7%), not retired (51.1%), and Medicare beneficiaries (56.6%). At year+2, 42.4% depleted their entire life’s assets, with higher adjusted odds associated with worsening cancer, requirement of continued treatment, demographic and socioeconomic factors (ie, female, Medicaid, uninsured, retired, increasing age, income, and household size), and clinical characteristics (ie, current smoker, worse self-reported health, hypertension, diabetes, lung disease) (P<.05); average losses were $92,098,” Adrienne M. Gilligan, PhD, David S. Alberts, MD, Denise J. Roe, DrPH, Grant H. Skrepnek, PhD write in the American Journal of Medicine. “At year+4, financial insolvency extended to 38.2%, with several consistent socioeconomic, cancer-related, and clinical characteristics remaining significant predictors of complete asset depletion. Conclusions This nationally-representative investigation of an initially-estimated 9.5 million newly-diagnosed persons with cancer who were ≥50 years of age found a substantial proportion incurring financial toxicity. As large financial burdens have been found to adversely affect access to care and outcomes among cancer patients, the active development of approaches to mitigate these effects among already vulnerable groups remains of key importance.” Adrienne M. Gilligan, PhD, David S. Alberts, MD, Denise J. Roe, DrPH, Grant H. Skrepnek, PhD, “Death or Debt? National Estimates of Financial Toxicity in Persons with Newly-Diagnosed Cancer,” The American Journal of Medicine.