Abstract 1289: Disparities in healthcare utilization and access among female cancer survivors in Maryland
Authors: Connor Avonne E. , Jin Mu , Visvanathan Kala 
Published: March 2024

Background: Healthcare utilization can be defined as how often healthcare is used, through what venue, and if access is available. There are medically vulnerable groups of cancer survivors, such as racial/ethnic minorities and economically disadvantaged populations, that may underutilize healthcare throughout cancer survivorship compared to non-vulnerable groups. Factors associated with survivorship care access/utilization should be evaluated to identify at-risk groups and reduce risk of poor health outcomes. Among female cancer survivors in Maryland, we examined the associations between race/ethnicity, obesity, measures of economic stability, and healthcare utilization-related outcomes (including access to care providers, type of doctor provides majority of care, and unmet health care needs because of cost).

Methods: Survey data were analyzed for 1,353 non-Hispanic white (NHW) and 280 non-Hispanic Black (NHB) women with a self-reported history of cancer living in Maryland who completed the Maryland Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey between 2011-2020. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the associations between independent factors and healthcare utilization outcomes.

Results: On average, survivors were 66.8 (standard deviation (SD)=12.8) years of age at time of survey and 53.5 (SD=15.6) years of age at time of cancer diagnosis. Breast cancer was the most common cancer reported (58.9%). While most women reported being retired (50.6%), 30.6% reported being employed and 10% were unemployed. Most women were homeowners (81.5%) and 40.1% had household incomes &gt;$50,000/year. Overall, race/ethnicity was not associated with any of the outcomes. Unemployed survivors (compared to employed) were 3.90 times more likely (95% CI 1.38-11.04, p=0.01) to report not being able to see a doctor because of cost. Survivors who were not homeowners (compared to homeowners) were 0.39 times less likely (95% CI 0.22-0.67, p &lt;0.001) to report having a general/family practitioner for majority of cancer survivorship care. Survivors with household incomes ≤$50,000/year (compared to &gt;$50,000/year) were 2.36 times more likely (95% CI 1.20-4.65, p=0.01) to not have seen a doctor in the past year. Lastly, obese survivors, compared to non-obese, were 0.25 times less likely (95% CI 0.07-0.84, p=0.02) to not have at least one healthcare provider.

Conclusions: While race/ethnicity was not associated with healthcare access/utilization, our results do demonstrate various disparities in access to care and healthcare utilization during cancer survivorship by employment status, home ownership, and income. Our findings can inform interventions in collaboration with healthcare providers caring for female cancer survivors to address challenges associated with access to survivorship care among medically underserved survivors in Maryland.

Citation Format: Avonne E. Connor, Mu Jin, Kala Visvanathan. Disparities in healthcare utilization and access among female cancer survivors in Maryland [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 1289.