Cancer can have financial impact on a survivor’s children: study

By Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, June 23, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Cancer affects families in many ways, and children whose parents had cancer are more likely to go hungry and miss out on daily essentials than their peers, reveals a new study from the American Cancer Society.

“Cancer is a potentially life-threatening disease, and parents with a history of cancer often struggle with worries about paying food, rent or mortgage and other monthly bills,” the director said. main author. Zhiyuan (Jason) ZhengSenior Principal Investigator of Health Services Research at the Cancer Society.

“Our previous research has shown us how a parent’s cancer diagnosis can impact a child’s physical and mental health, but little was known about the social and economic impact until now. . We hope these findings will help shed light on this important question,” he said in an ACS press release.

The researchers used the 2013 to 2018 US National Health Survey to identify children aged 5 to 17 whose parents had or did not have a history of cancer.

Families provided information on unmet economic need in these annual surveys.

Parental cancer history was associated with greater worry about lack of food and the inability to afford balanced meals. It was also linked to worries about paying monthly bills, housing costs and delays in medical care for children due to lack of transportation.

Among children with a parental cancer history, the most vulnerable were girls, black children and those whose parents had multiple health conditions or were poor, according to the study.

“Strategies are needed to identify children with a parental cancer history and to identify and address these critical unmet needs,” Zheng said. “Furthermore, further study is needed to determine whether these unmet economic and social needs in children last into adulthood.”

The results were published on June 22 in Open JAMA Network.

SOURCE: American Cancer Society, press release, June 22, 2023

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