Overview
- Cumulative incidence reached 30.0% for new household material hardship and 31.5% for catastrophic income loss by 24 months of chemotherapy.
- The correlative study followed 422 families across eight U.S. and Canadian centers with surveys at diagnosis and at 6, 12, and 24 months.
- Financial harms mounted over time, rising from roughly 20% at six months to about 30% by two years on both measures.
- Among 307 families without hardship at diagnosis, 24.3% later developed new hardship and 27.9% lost at least a quarter of household income.
- Investigators identified higher risk for Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black families, single-parent households, non-dominant language speakers, Medicaid-insured participants, and low-income households, and they urged repeated financial screening as trials test benefits counseling and direct cash transfers; results were presented at ASH and may understate burden due to trial-based sampling.