{"id":361006,"date":"2026-04-02T23:13:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T23:13:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/361006\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T23:13:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T23:13:17","slug":"financial-hardship-and-late-stage-cancer-diagnosis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/361006\/","title":{"rendered":"Financial Hardship and Late-Stage Cancer Diagnosis"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n \t\t By Matthew Stenger<\/a>

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\n\t\t Posted: 4\/2\/2026 9:35:00 AM
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\n Last Updated: 4\/2\/2026 12:46:20 PM
\n\t\t \n\t\t<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology<\/a>, Khor et al found that prediagnosis financial hardship was associated with a diagnosis of cancer at later stages, particularly for cancers with organized screening programs and those detectable via physical examination.<\/p>\n

Study Details<\/p>\n

The case-control study used data from adult patients diagnosed with stage I to IV solid tumors between 2014 and 2017 from the Western Washington State SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results) registry, and credit report data from TransUnion and health-care claims. Financial hardship was defined as at least one record of collections, charge-offs, delinquent mortgage payments, tax liens, foreclosures, repossessions, or bankruptcies within 2 years before cancer diagnosis. The association between financial hardship and late-stage diagnosis (stages III and IV) was evaluated.<\/p>\n

Key Findings<\/p>\n

Among 50,148 patients with cancer (mean age = 64 years, 52% female, 85% White) included in the analysis, 30% had prediagnosis financial hardship.<\/p>\n

Overall, financial hardship was associated with significantly increased risk of late-stage diagnosis (adjusted risk ratio [RR] = 1.14, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.11\u20131.17). The increase in risk was greater for cancers with organized screening programs (adjusted RR = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.21\u20131.29) and for cancers detectable by physical examination (adjusted RR = 1.44, 95% CI = 1.31\u20131.59). No increase in risk was observed for cancers without organized screening or those not detectable by physical examination (adjusted RR = 1.00, 95% CI = 0.94\u20131.07).<\/p>\n

Variations in risk were observed among individual cancer sites. Among patients with breast cancer, 70% of the increased risk for late-stage diagnosis was attributable to not having undergone screening. \u00a0<\/p>\n

The investigators concluded: \u201c[Financial hardship] significantly affects cancer stage at diagnosis, especially for cancers with organized screening and physical examinations. In breast cancer, this association is largely attributed to lack of screening. These findings underscore [financial hardship] as an important social determinant of health and the need for targeted interventions to improve screening access.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sara Khor, PhD, of Comparative Health Outcomes, Policy, and Economics Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, is the corresponding author for the Journal of Clinical Oncology article.<\/p>\n

DISCLOSURE: The study was supported by the Kathryn Butler Foundation and Texas 4000 Foundation. For full disclosures of the study authors, visit ascopubs.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Matthew Stenger Posted: 4\/2\/2026 9:35:00 AM Last Updated: 4\/2\/2026 12:46:20 PM …\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[134,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-361006","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}