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US cancer survivors at risk for financial hardships
Cancer survivors in the United States incur substantial annual medical expenditures and face limitations in their work productivity, according to findings published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
“Cancer survivors face physical, emotional, psychosocial, employment and financial challenges as a result of their cancer diagnosis and treatment,” Donatus U. Ekwueme, PhD, a senior health economist at the CDC’s division of cancer prevention and control, said in a press release. “With the number of cancer survivors expected to increase by more than 30% in the next decade — to 18 million Americans — medical and public health professionals must be diligent in their efforts to help reduce the burden of cancer on survivors and their families.”
Donatus U. Ekwueme
Ekwueme and colleagues evaluated data from the 2008 to 2011 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Overall, a greater percentage of survivors were female (58.2% vs. 51%), non-Hispanic white (84.8% vs. 66.1%), in fair or poor health (28.1% vs. 12.2%) and had three or more chronic conditions (43.5% vs. 16.6%) than adults without a history of cancer.
Mean annual medical expenditures — calculated in 2011 dollars and adjusted for age, sex, race/ethnicity, number of other chronic conditions, marital status and education — were higher for survivors who were male ($8,091 vs. $3,904; P˂.001) and female ($8,412 vs. $5,119; P˂.001) compared with adults without cancer.
Private health insurance was the most common source of payment for male ($3,003) and female ($3,899) survivors. Frequent medical expenditures included those for ambulatory care (male, $2,640; female, $3,187) and inpatient care (male, $1,722; female, $1,843).
Researchers also calculated lost productivity through employment disability, health-related missed work days and days spent in bed due to illness. The mean annual productivity loss was significantly greater among male ($3,719 vs. $2,260; P˂.001) and female ($4,033 vs. $2,703; P˂.001) survivors compared with adults without a cancer history. Employment disability accounted for almost 75% of productivity loss among survivors.
Of cancer survivors, 3.16% reported that their cancer interfered with daily activities outside of work. Cancer survivors also reported a change in work hours, duties, paid time off or employment status (42.1%), and that cancer interfered with their ability to perform physical (25.1%) and mental (14.4%) tasks.