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

Link to Article in PubMed

Link to Full Text

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