Financial Insolvency May Be a Risk Factor for Early Mortality Among Patients With Cancer

Extreme financial distress appeared to influence survival after cancer diagnosis and may be taking a greater toll on patients than previously recognized, Seattle researchers have found.^1.....

 “Oncologists need to be mindful that their patients may have a tenuous financial situation that could prevent them from completing planned therapies,” said study investigator Scott Ramsey, MD, PhD, director of the Hutchinson Institute for Cancer Outcomes Research at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, WA, in an interview with Cancer Therapy Advisor.

Vinay Prasad, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine at the Oregon Health & Science University Knight Cancer Institute in Portland, said this is becoming a greater concern than ever before.
“We are already thinking about biological toxicity, and now we have to think about a whole new class of toxicity. We have to deal with these toxicities and no longer ignore them,” Dr Prasad told Cancer Therapy Advisor.