Do Cancer Survivors Change Their Prescription Drug Use for Financial Reasons? Findings From a Nationally Representative Sample in the United States

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Cancer
• Personal Author:
  Zheng, Zhiyuan ; Han, Xuesong ; Guy, Gery P. ; Davidoff, Amy J. ; Li, Chunyu ; Banegas, Matthew P. ; Ekwueme, Donatus U. ; Yabroff, K. Robin ; Jemal, Ahmedin
• Description:
  BACKGROUND
  
  There is limited evidence from nationally representative samples about changes in prescription drug use for financial reasons among cancer survivors in the United States.
  
  METHODS
  
  The 2011 to 2014 National Health Interview Survey was used to identify adults who reported ever having been told they had cancer (cancer survivors; n = 8931) and individuals without a cancer history (n = 126,287). Measures of changes in prescription drug use for financial reasons included: 1) skipping medication doses, 2) taking less medicine, 3) delaying filling a prescription, 4) asking a doctor for lower cost medication, 5) buying prescription drugs from another country, and 6) using alternative therapies. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were controlled for demographic characteristics, number of comorbid conditions, interactions between cancer history and number of comorbid conditions, and health insurance coverage. Main analyses were stratified by age (nonelderly, ages 18–64 years; elderly, ages ≥65 years) and time since diagnosis (recently diagnosed, <2 years; previously diagnosed, ≥2 years).
  
  RESULTS
  
  Among nonelderly individuals, both recently diagnosed (31.6%) and previously diagnosed (27.9%) cancer survivors were more likely to report any change in prescription drug use for financial reasons than those without a cancer history (21.4%), with the excess percentage changes for individual measures ranging from 3.5% to 9.9% among previously diagnosed survivors and from 2.6% to 2.7% among recently diagnosed survivors (P < .01). Elderly cancer survivors and those without a cancer history had comparable rates of changes in prescription drug use for financial reasons.
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  
  Nonelderly cancer survivors are particularly vulnerable to changes in prescription drug use for financial reasons, suggesting that targeted efforts are needed.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adolescent Adult Aged Antineoplastic Agents Article Cancer Survivors Comorbid Conditions Comorbidity Complementary Therapies Cross-Sectional Studies Drug Substitution Financial Burden High-deductible Plan Humans Insurance, Health Middle Aged Neoplasms Prescription Drugs Surveys And Questionnaires Survivors United States Young Adult

  More +
• Source:
  Cancer. 123(8):1453-1463
• Pubmed ID:
  28218801
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC6080209
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  123
• Issue:
  8
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:6b8d68c6e47f148db3ec4b36fff10885a902387a76d6eb94f33a7cedc496b02f
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/57906/cdc_57906_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 358.87 KB ]