Researcher from Emory University School of Medicine Publishes New Studies and Findings in the Area of Blood Cancer (Health Insurance Continuity and Mortality in Children and Adolescents/Young Adults with Blood Cancer): Oncology – Blood Cancer

2024 SEP 30 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Current study results on blood cancer have been published. According to news reporting out of Atlanta, Georgia, by NewsRx editors, research stated, “Many uninsured patients do not receive Medicaid coverage until a cancer diagnosis, potentially delaying access to care for early cancer detection and treatment. We examine the association of Medicaid enrollment timing and patterns with survival among children and adolescents/young adults (AYAs) diagnosed with blood cancers, where disease onset can be acute and early detection is critical.”

Our news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from Emory University School of Medicine: “We identified 28,750 children and AYAs (0-39 years) newly diagnosed with blood cancers from the 2006-2013 SEER-Medicaid data. Enrollment patterns included continuous Medicaid (preceding through diagnosis), newly gained Medicaid (at/shortly after diagnosis), other noncontinuous Medicaid enrollment, and private/other insurance. We assessed cumulative incidence of death from diagnosis, censoring at last follow-up, five years post-diagnosis, or December 2018, whichever occurred first. Multivariable survival models estimated the association of insurance enrollment patterns with risk of death. One-fourth (26.1%) of the cohort were insured by Medicaid; of these, 41.1% had continuous Medicaid, 34.9% had newly gained Medicaid, and 24.0% had other noncontinuous enrollment. The cumulative incidence of all-cause death five-year post-diagnosis was highest in patients with newly gained Medicaid (30.2%, 95%CI = 28.4-31.9%), followed by other noncontinuous enrollment (23.2%, 95%CI = 21.3-25.2%), continuous Medicaid (20.5%, 95%CI = 19.1-21.9%), and private/other insurance (11.2%; 95%CI = 10.7-11.7%). In multivariable models, newly gained Medicaid was associated with a higher risk of all-cause (hazard ratio = 1.39, 95%CI = 1.27-1.53) and cancer-specific death (hazard ratio = 1.50, 95%CI = 1.35-1.68), compared to continuous Medicaid.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Continuous Medicaid coverage is associated with survival benefits among pediatric and AYA patients diagnosed with blood cancers; however, less than half of Medicaid-insured patients have continuous coverage before diagnosis.”

For more information on this research see: Health Insurance Continuity and Mortality in Children and Adolescents/Young Adults with Blood Cancer. JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 2024. The publisher for JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute is Oxford University Press (OUP).

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djae226.

Our news editors report that more information may be obtained by contacting Xu Ji, Emory University School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics, Atlanta, GA, United States. Additional authors for this research include Xinyue (Elyse) Zhang, K Robin Yabroff, Wendy Stock, Patricia Cornwell, Shasha Bai, Ann C Mertens, Joseph Lipscomb, Sharon M Castellino.

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)