Factors correlated with financial hardship among cancer patients during the COVID-19 pandemic

Sara P Myers, Carolyn Tsung, J C Chen, Yevgeniya Gokun, Jesse Plascak, Mohamed I Elsaid, Ashley Rosko, Carolyn J Presley, Electra D Paskett, Ann Scheck McAlearney and Samilia Obeng-Gyasi

PLOS ONE, 2026, vol. 21, issue 3, 1-11

Abstract: Purpose: Financial hardship from cancer care is associated with poor patient outcomes. Economic disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic may have exacerbated patients’ financial concerns. We explore how social deprivation index (SDI), clinical, and treatment-related factors impacted financial hardship in this observational secondary analysis using data collected prospectively during implementation of financial hardship screening from our NCI-designated center during COVID-19. Methods: Adults aged ≥18 years undergoing active treatment for stage 0-IV breast or lung cancer and who completed a 5-point Likert response-item screening for financial difficulty between 11/2020 and 11/2021 were included. Generalized estimating equations assessed associations between quartiles of zip-code level SDI, a composite obtained using data from US Census and American Community Survey, and binary outcome of financial hardship adjusting for relevant covariates. Results: Of 2245 patients, 87% identified as White, 9% as Black, 2% as Asian. The majority of patients identified as non-Hispanic (99%). Median age was 62 years old (IQR 53–71).The majority were treated for breast cancer (79%). Significant financial hardship (Likert responses ≥2) was reported by 7%. Most were married, had managed-care insurance, resided in urban settings, and had early-stage cancers (all p

Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0342984 (text/html)
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id= ... 42984&type=printable (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0342984

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0342984

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in PLOS ONE from Public Library of Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by plosone ().