New studies unveiled at the 2023 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), held in Chicago from June 2-6, 2023, indicate loneliness and experiencing a major financial event as direct correlations to a cancer diagnosis and higher mortality risk.
Led by Jingxuan Zhao, senior associate scientist of health services research at the American Cancer Society, cancer survivors 50 years and older reported "elevated loneliness scores [and] had higher hazard ratios, indicating higher mortality risks." These findings occurred even after adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, leading to strong recommendations to implement programs to screen for loneliness among cancer survivors and provide social support.
An additional study unveiled at the ASCO annual meeting indicates that 1/3 of cancer patients experienced a major adverse financial event (AFE), such as bankruptcy, lien, or eviction, prior to being diagnosed with cancer, and were subsequently diagnosed at a later cancer stage. Of the 101,649 patients studied, 32.6% had a major AFE before being diagnosed, most commonly among non-Hispanic Black, unmarried, and low-income patients. However, "even 27% of patients in the highest income group had an AFE prior to diagnosis."
To learn more about these studies, click here and here.
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