Dados do Resumo

Título

Financial Toxicity in patients with Oropharynx, Oral Cavity and Larynx Cancer: a Systematic review and Meta-Analysis

Introdução

Financial toxicity (FT) associated with cancer treatment is a growing concern, affecting the quality of life of patients, delays in treatment, reduced medication adherence and worse clinical outcomes. For patients with head and neck cancer, due to the sequelae inherent to this topography, this burden has the potential to be even greater.
Mitigating measures of this financial impact suggested by oncology societies are hampered by the lack of standardization of outcomes.

Objetivo

The objective of this study is to evaluate FT within the psychosocial and coping measures subdomains, in patients undergoing treatment for oropharynx, oral cavity and larynx cancer.

Métodos

We will be performing a systematic review and a single-arm meta-analysis of observational studies data quantifying the FT in patients undergoing treatment for oropharynx, oral cavity and larynx cancer. PubMed, Embase, Cochrane, Scopus, LILACs and gray literature databases were searched for trials published up to September 2, 2024, with terms related to head and neck cancer, financial toxicity and treatment, and the support of boolean operators.
The primary outcomes will be the values assessed through Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs), such as the COST and FIT questionnaires. If possible, further subanalyses will be performed restricted to each PROM separately and to each cancer subsite separately (oropharynx, oral cavity and larynx).
Two independent researchers will collect data in parallel and disagreements between them will be resolved by a third researcher. Rayyan software will be used to organize and share studies.

Resultados

We expect to identify the prevalence of FT among head and neck cancer patients, discriminated by subsite, and the severity of financial impacts. We will probably have access to the relation between FT and clinical outcomes, such as treatment adherence and quality of life. Additionally, risk factors for increased FT, such as income, insurance coverage, and social support, can be highlighted. We hope that our results will serve as a subsidy for suggestions for interventions to mitigate FT, based on evidence aggregated in the meta-analysis and, then, to help inform health policies and strategies to reduce the adverse financial impact on cancer patients.

Conclusões

The study is still ongoing.

Financiador do resumo

CAPES

Palavras Chave

Head and Neck Cancer; financial toxicity; financial distress