Abstract B090: Relationship between medication adherence, psychosocial risk, and sociodemographic characteristics in pediatric cancer
Authors: Smith Randall S. , Jewell Andrea , Isaac Evrosina , Rohan Jennifer M. 
Published: January 2023

Background/Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., minority status, geographic location), psychosocial risk, and medication adherence in pediatric cancer. Methods: This study included 40 pediatric oncology patients ages 2-19 years (Mage=11.6±5.6 years) in active treatment. 52.5% identified as non-Hispanic White, 32.5% identified as non-Hispanic minority, and 15% identified as Hispanic. Parents completed the Psychosocial Assessment Tool (PAT) at baseline assessing psychosocial risk factors. Patients used objective adherence monitors (MEMS) , which recorded daily adherence rates to chemotherapy and non-chemotherapy medications across one year. Results: The PAT identified that 55% of patients needed universal intervention and 45% needed targeted clinical interventions. Patients identified as lowest psychosocial risk (i.e., needing universal interventions), had significantly higher adherence rates (M=74%±22%) than those identified as highest psychosocial risk (i.e., needing targeted interventions; M=51%±37%; p &lt; 0.004). While non-minoritized White patients demonstrated higher rates of treatment adherence (M=71%±32%) compared to minoritized patients (M=56%±31%); this finding was not significant. Additionally, there was no significant difference between geographic distance from hospital and medication adherence. In fact, those who lived closer to the hospital had lower adherence rates (M=62%±31%) compared to those who lived further away (M=67%±34%). There also was no significant difference between distance from hospital and psychosocial risk. Patients identified as greatest psychosocial risk (i.e., in need of targeted interventions) only lived 3 miles further from the hospital (M=27.1±26.6 miles) than those in need of preventative interventions (M=24.2±19.6 miles). Conclusions & Implications: The geographic location of pediatric oncology patients in relation to the hospital at which they received treatment did not significantly impact treatment adherence to chemotherapy and non-chemotherapy medications. Furthermore, minority status did not significantly affect treatment adherence rates. On the other hand, treatment adherence was significantly lower for patients whose parents reported more psychosocial stressors. Future research should identify innovative health promotion interventions targeting psychosocial risk, which seems to have the greatest influence on health behaviors like medication adherence.

Citation Format: Randall S. Smith, Andrea Jewell, Evrosina Isaac, Jennifer M. Rohan. Relationship between medication adherence, psychosocial risk, and sociodemographic characteristics in pediatric cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 15th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2022 Sep 16-19; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2022;31(1 Suppl):Abstract nr B090.