Abstract PO-084: Time from bladder cancer diagnosis and financial toxicity
Authors: Bhanvadia Sumeet K. , Steinberg Leora , Koh Kailyn , Daneshmand Siamak , Tang Weizhou , Tucker-Seeley Reginald 
Published: December 2020

Background: The term “financial toxicity” (FT) describes the negative financial impact of a cancer diagnosis on the household; and research suggests that FT has a prevalence of 25-50% among cancer patients. In bladder cancer (BC), the 5th most common malignancy in the U.S., but one of the highest cost per capita of cancer sites, prevalence has been reported to be 25%. No published studies to date, however, have assessed FT using a validated measure and in-depth exploration of the association between patient factors and time from diagnosis in BC. The goal for the present study was to investigate the association between time since BC diagnosis (TSD) and FT. Methods: Patients with high risk non-muscle invasive and muscle invasive BC were enrolled from an NCI designated cancer center (N = 100). The 12- item Comprehensive Score for Financial Toxicity (COST) was used to assess FT. Additional data, such as BC diagnosis date, was abstracted from the medical records and conversations with patients. In order to determine the associations between sociodemographic and clinicopathologic variables and FT, bivariate analyses were conducted. Multivariable logistic regression models were conducted to determine whether TSD (1 year or less vs. more than 1 year) was associated with FT. Results: Bivariate analyses showed that FT was not statistically significantly associated with TSD and that TSD was not statistically significantly associated with any sociodemographic characteristics (e.g. race/ethnicity, primarily language, education, gender) in our study. Simple and adjusted multivariable logistic regression results showed that TSD was not statistically significantly associated with FT. Next, we explored individual items in the 12-item COST scale, and found that patients who have been diagnosed 1 year or less had higher odds of not feeling in control of their current financial situation compared to those who had been diagnosed more than 1 year ago (OR = 2.933; CI:1.009, 8.547). Conclusion: While TSD was not statistically significantly associated with the full COST scale measuring FT in our study, we did find an association between TSD and feeling of control in one’s current financial situation. These results suggest that different aspects of FT may be more/less relevant for BC patients at different points in the cancer care continuum, and that feeling in control of one’s finances can potentially increase as TSD increases. To better understand the influence of socioeconomic resources on BC care related outcomes, further research is needed to explicate the specific aspects of FT that are relevant to patients as they manage and navigate cancer care.

Citation Format: Sumeet K. Bhanvadia, Leora Steinberg, Kailyn Koh, Siamak Daneshmand, Weizhou Tang, Reginald Tucker-Seeley. Time from bladder cancer diagnosis and financial toxicity [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Virtual Conference: Thirteenth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2020 Oct 2-4. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(12 Suppl):Abstract nr PO-084.