Findings on Cancer Reported by Researchers at University of Colorado Comprehensive Cancer Center (County-level medical debt and treatment initiation among individuals newly diagnosed with cancer): Cancer

2025 NOV 12 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at NewsRx Women’s Health Daily -- Fresh data on Cancer are presented in a new report. According to news originating from Aurora, Colorado, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “The high costs of cancer care may lead to medical debt for patients and families. This study examined the association of county-level medical debt and timely treatment initiation among individuals newly diagnosed with cancer.”

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the University of Colorado Comprehensive Cancer Center, “Individuals aged 19 years and older who were newly diagnosed with acute leukemias, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma, female breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and lung cancer with consecutive enrollment in the same insurance type from the month of diagnosis through 90 days afterward were identified from the 2012-2021 Colorado Central Cancer Registry linked to the Colorado All-Payer Claims Database with information about county-level medical debt from the Urban Institute (N = 35,789). The exposure was the county-level share of adults with medical debt in collections, categorized in four quartiles (Q1-Q4). The outcome was timely treatment initiation-defined as the receipt of any cancer-directed treatment within 90 days after cancer diagnosis. The association of county-level medical debt and time to treatment initiation was examined by using multivariable Cox models. Higher county-level medical debt was associated with lower likelihood of timely treatment initiation for all selected cancers combined (Q4 [counties with the highest medical debt rate; n = 8652] vs. Q1 [counties with the lowest medical debt rate; n = 9042]: hazard ratio [HR], 0.916; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.871-0.963; p for trend = .001), for female breast cancer (Q4 vs. Q1: HR, 0.910; 95% CI, 0.847-0.978; p for trend = .011), and among individuals aged 19-64 years with private health maintenance organization plans (Q4 vs. Q1: HR, 0.790; 95% CI, 0.699-0.893; p for trend = .002) or Medicaid coverage (Q4 vs. Q1: HR, 0.869; 95% CI, 0.786-0.960; p for trend = .013).”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Policies aimed at preventing and alleviating medical debt could be effective strategies for improving access to timely treatment.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: County-level medical debt and treatment initiation among individuals newly diagnosed with cancer. Cancer, 2025;131(21). Cancer can be contacted at: Wiley, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA. (Wiley-Blackwell - http://www.wiley.com/; Cancer - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1097-0142)

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from Marcelo Perraillon, Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado Comprehensive Cancer Center, Aurora, Colorado, United States. Additional authors for this research include Jingxuan Zhao, Roxanne M. Clark, Samuel J. Greenwald, Daniel A. Pollyea, Xuesong Han, K. Robin Yabroff, Cathy J. Bradley and Helen M. Parsons.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.70133. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

The publisher’s contact information for the journal Cancer is: Wiley, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA.

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