Investigators at Washington University Detail Findings in Cancer (The Impact of Individual-level Income Predicted From the Brfss On the Association Between Insurance Status and Overall Survival Among Adults With Cancer From the Seer Program*): Cancer

2024 APR 29 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Investigators publish new report on Cancer. According to news reporting originating in St. Louis, Missouri, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “Among patients with cancer in the United States, Medicaid insurance is associated with worse outcomes than private insurance and with similar outcomes as being uninsured. However, prior studies have not addressed the impact of individual-level socioeconomic status, which determines Medicaid eligibility, on the associations of Medicaid status and cancer outcomes.”

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from Washington University, “Our objective was to determine whether differences in cancer outcomes by insurance status persist after accounting for individual-level income. The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database was queried for 18-64 year-old individuals with cancer from 2014-2016. Individual-level income was imputed using a model trained on Behavioral Risk Factors Surveillance Survey participants including covariates also present in SEER. The association of 1-year overall survival and insurance status was estimated with and without adjustment for estimated individuallevel income and other covariates. A total of 416,784 cases in SEER were analyzed. The 1-yr OS for patients with private insurance, Medicaid insurance, and no insurance was 88.7%, 76.1%, and 73.7%, respectively. After adjusting for all covariates except individual-level income, 1-year OS differences were worse with Medicaid (-6.0%, 95% CI = -6.3 to -5.6) and no insurance (-6.7%, 95% CI = -7.3 to -6.0) versus private insurance. After also adjusting for estimated individual-level income, the survival difference for Medicaid patients was similar to privately insured (-0.4%, 95% CI = -1.9 to 1.1) and better than uninsured individuals (2.1%, 95% CI = 0.7 to 3.4). Income, rather than Medicaid status, may drive poor cancer outcomes in the low-income and Medicaid-insured population.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Medicaid insurance coverage may improve cancer outcomes for low-income individuals.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: The Impact of Individual-level Income Predicted From the Brfss On the Association Between Insurance Status and Overall Survival Among Adults With Cancer From the Seer Program*. Cancer Epidemiology, 2024;89. Cancer Epidemiology can be contacted at: Elsevier Sci Ltd, 125 London Wall, London, England. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Cancer Epidemiology - http://www.journals.elsevier.com/cancer-epidemiology/)

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Justin M. Barnes, Washington University, Dept. of Radiation Oncology, School of Medicine St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, United States. Additional authors for this research include Kimberly J. Johnson, Nosayaba Osazuwa-Peters and Matthew B. Spraker.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.canep.2024.102541. 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.

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