Financial Toxicity and Out-of-Pocket Costs for Patients with Head and Neck Cancer
Smith, Justin, Yu, Justin, Gordon, Louisa G., and Chilkuri, Madhavi (2023) Financial Toxicity and Out-of-Pocket Costs for Patients with Head and Neck Cancer. Current Oncology, 30 (5). pp. 4922-4935.
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Abstract
Aim: To quantify financial toxicity and out-of-pocket costs for patients with HNC in Australia and explore their relationship with health-related quality of life (HRQoL).
Methods: A cross-sectional survey was administered to patients with HNC 1–3 years after radiotherapy at a regional hospital in Australia. The survey included questions on sociodemographics, out-of-pocket expenses, HRQoL, and the Financial Index of Toxicity (FIT) tool. The relationship between high financial toxicity scores (top quartile) and HRQoL was explored.
Results: Of the 57 participants included in the study, 41 (72%) reported out-of-pocket expenses at a median of AUD 1796 (IQR AUD 2700) and a maximum of AUD 25,050. The median FIT score was 13.9 (IQR 19.5) and patients with high financial toxicity (n = 14) reported poorer HRQoL (76.5 vs. 114.5, p < 0.001). Patients who were not married had higher FIT scores (23.1 vs. 11.1, p = 0.01), as did those with lower education (19.3 vs. 11.1, p = 0.06). Participants with private health insurance had lower financial toxicity scores (8.3 vs. 17.6, p = 0.01). Medications (41%, median AUD 400), dietary supplements (41%, median AUD 600), travel (36%, median AUD 525), and dental (29%, AUD 388) were the most common out-of-pocket expenses. Participants living in rural locations (≥100 km from the hospital) had higher out-of-pocket expenses (AUD 2655 vs. AUD 730, p = 0.01).
Conclusion: Financial toxicity is associated with poorer HRQoL for many patients with HNC following treatment. Further research is needed to investigate interventions aimed at reducing financial toxicity and how these can best be incorporated into routine clinical care.
| Item ID: | 78941 |
|---|---|
| Item Type: | Article (Research - C1) |
| ISSN: | 1718-7729 |
| Keywords: | financial toxicity, head and neck cancer, out-of-pocket expenses, quality of life, survivorship |
| Copyright Information: | © 2023 by the authors. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
| Date Deposited: | 01 Nov 2023 23:12 |
| FoR Codes: | 32 BIOMEDICAL AND CLINICAL SCIENCES > 3211 Oncology and carcinogenesis > 321199 Oncology and carcinogenesis not elsewhere classified @ 100% |
| SEO Codes: | 28 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 2801 Expanding knowledge > 280103 Expanding knowledge in the biomedical and clinical sciences @ 100% |
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