New findings led by researchers at the American Cancer Society (ACS) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) show more than one-third of cancer patients had a major adverse financial event – bankruptcy, lien, or eviction – before their cancer diagnosis.
These patients with adverse financial events (AFEs) had a later-stage diagnosis compared with patients with no events. The findings are published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO).
Researchers identified individuals, aged 21 to 69 years old, diagnosed with cancer during 2014-2015 from the SEER population-based registries for Seattle, Louisiana, and Georgia. Registry data were linked with LexisNexis consumer data to identify patients with a history of court-documented AFEs. All AFEs occurring at any time prior to cancer diagnosis were identified. The association of AFEs and later-stage cancer diagnoses (Stages III/IV) was assessed with sex-specific multivariable logistic regression. The results showed 36.2% of the 101,649 patients with cancer had a major AFE reported prior to diagnosis. AFEs were most common among non-Hispanic Black, unmarried, and low-income patients. However, even 27% of patients in the highest income group had an AFE prior to diagnosis.
