Financial Hardship and Nonadherence to Lifestyle and Surveillance in Childhood Cancer Survivors

Is there an association between medical financial hardship and adherence to healthy behavior and recommended surveillance among adult survivors of childhood cancer?In this cohort study of 3322 adults previously treated for a childhood cancer who were more than 3 decades from their diagnosis, more than one-half reported medical financial hardship. Medical financial hardship was associated with nonadherence to healthy lifestyle behaviors and certain recommended surveillance tests for subsequent malignant neoplasms.These findings underscore the need to identify and address medical financial hardship as a potential risk factor of nonadherence to a healthy lifestyle and guideline-concordant survivorship care.

Corresponding Author: Neel S. Bhatt, MBBS, MPH, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, 1100 Fairview Ave N, M2-B230, Seattle, WA 98109 (nbhatt@fredhutch.org).

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