Title
Racial variation in willingness to trade financial resources for life-prolonging cancer treatment
UMMS Affiliation
Department of Quantitative Health Services
Publication Date
8-1-2011
Document Type
Article
Subjects
Life Support Care; Patient Preference; Attitude to Health; Continental Population Groups; Minority Groups
Disciplines
Biostatistics | Epidemiology | Health Services Research | Neoplasms
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Minority patients receive more aggressive care at the end of life, but it is unclear whether this trend is consistent with their preferences. We compared the willingness to use personal financial resources to extend life among white, black, Hispanic, and Asian cancer patients.
METHODS: Patients with newly diagnosed lung or colorectal cancer participating in the Cancer Care Outcomes Research and Surveillance observational study were interviewed about myriad aspects of their care, including their willingness to expend personal financial resources to prolong life. We evaluated the association of race/ethnicity with preference for life-extending treatment controlling for clinical, sociodemographic, and psychosocial factors using logistic regression.
RESULTS: Among patients (N = 4214), 80% of blacks reported a willingness to spend all resources to extend life, versus 54% of whites, 69% of Hispanics, and 72% of Asians (P
CONCLUSIONS: Black cancer patients are more willing to exhaust personal financial resources to extend life. Delivering quality cancer care requires an understanding of how these preferences impact cancer care and outcomes. Cancer 2011;. (c) 2011 American Cancer Society.
Keywords
UMCCTS funding
DOI of Published Version
10.1002/cncr.25839
Source
Cancer 2011 Aug 1;117(15):3476-84. doi: 10.1002/cncr.25839. Epub 2011 Apr 26.
Journal/Book/Conference Title
Cancer
PubMed ID
21523759
Related Resources
Repository Citation
Martin, Michelle Y.; Pisu, Maria; Oster, Robert A.; Urmie, Julie M.; Schrag, Deborah; Huskamp, Haiden A.; Lee, Jeannette; Kiefe, Catarina I.; and Fouad, Mona N., "Racial variation in willingness to trade financial resources for life-prolonging cancer treatment" (2011). Quantitative Health Sciences Publications and Presentations. 977.
https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/qhs_pp/977