Real-World Evidence of Disproportionate Financial Toxicity and Health-Related Social Needs Among Adolescents and Young Adults Receiving Care at an NCI-Designated Cancer Center.
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Financial toxicity is a significant but often overlooked consequence of cancer for adolescents and young adults (AYAs, 15-39 years old), who face limited savings, unstable employment, and insurance gaps that heighten financial stress. As part of a larger initiative to determine whether our cancer center can use an existing social drivers of health (SDOH) screening process to identify patients who may benefit from targeted supportive interventions, we sought to characterize financial strain, toxicity, and SDOH needs in AYAs treated in our cancer center and compare them to both younger and older cancer patients. This is a cross-sectional observational study at Mayo Clinic of patients with an oncology-related department visit between 8 September 2023-4 June 2024 (N = 81,731) who completed routine institutional electronic screenings for financial strain and SDOH. Survey items assessed financial strain, transportation barriers, and food insecurity; institutional billing data captured financial toxicity (unresolved balances, collection referrals, write-offs). AYAs (n = 5655) were more likely than non-AYAs to report medium/high financial strain, have unpaid debt, or have an unresolved balance, referral to a collection agency, or bad debt write-off, with nearly double the odds of medium/high financial strain compared to patients over 40 (OR 2.02, 95% CI 1.84-2.23, p < 0.001). Within AYAs, ages 26-32 bore the greatest burden: 24.2% in the medium/high-risk category, 9.4% with unresolved billing issues or collections, and 11.6% reporting food insecurity. These findings identify AYAs-particularly those 26-32-as a distinct high-risk group for financial toxicity and health-related social needs, underscoring the need for targeted interventions, tailored financial navigation, and policy efforts to reduce economic barriers to care. Future research should evaluate the effectiveness of these interventions in mitigating financial toxicity, addressing health-related social needs, and improving patient outcomes in this population.