Abstract 1983: Social/physical limitations and financial hardship among the US adult cancer survivors with multiple primary cancer
Authors: Xing Jiazhang 
Published: April 2023

BACKGROUND: In the US, new malignancies among cancer survivors comprised a substantial proportion of total incident cancers, ranging from 11% in younger adults (aged 20-64 years) to 25% in adults aged 65 years and older. These survivors with multiple primary cancer (MPC) have poorer mental status than those with a single cancer diagnosis. However, limited studies have focused on this unique survivor population. We aimed to compare social and physical limitation as well as financial hardship between cancer survivors with MPC and those with single cancer diagnosis to provide more information about the well-being of cancer survivors with MPC in the US.

METHODS: This study is based on the adult samples data from the US population-based 2021 National Health Interview Survey. Individuals with non-melanoma skin cancer or skin cancer of unknown type and those diagnosed before 18 years old are excluded. The MPC group was compared with the single cancer diagnosis group about social limitations (difficulty doing errands alone, difficulty participating in social activities and health-related work limitation), physical limitations (vision, hearing, mobility, communication, cognition and self-care) and medical financial hardship (care access failure due to finance, problems or worries in paying medical bills). Life satisfaction was also evaluated among the two groups. The Mann-Whitney U test and binary logistic regression were used to analyze differences between the two groups. Analyses were performed using SPSS (version 27.0; SPSS Inc., Chicago, Ill). 2-sided at P &lt; .05 was considered as statistical significance.

RESULTS: We identified 2633 adult cancer survivors, including 343 MPC survivors and 2290 survivors with a single cancer diagnosis. Compared to cancer survivors with single cancer diagnoses, cancer survivors with MPC have a significantly increased risk of social limitation, including difficulty doing errands alone (OR 1.80, P &lt; .001) and participating in social activity (OR 1.88, P &lt; .001), although no difference in health-related work limitation. Meanwhile, cancer survivors with MPC are significantly related to physical disabilities, including vision (OR 1.38, P = 0.014), hearing(OR 1.33, P = 0.022), mobility (OR 1.77, P &lt; .001), communication (OR 1.50, P = 0.038), cognition (OR 1.26, P = 0.051) and self-care (OR 1.57, P = 0.017). Cancer survivors with MPC are also found to be associated with life dissatisfaction (OR 1.88, P = 0.001). We observed no significant differences in care access failure due to finance, problems or worries in paying medical bills.

CONCLUSIONS: Cancer survivors with MPC are associated with increased risks for social function and physical disabilities and tend to report life dissatisfaction more than cancer survivors with single cancer. Survivors with MPC need more attention and support from the family, community and medical care.

Citation Format: Jiazhang Xing. Social/physical limitations and financial hardship among the US adult cancer survivors with multiple primary cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 1983.