Financial Toxicity Among Patients with Multiple Myeloma

Background: Treatment-related financial burden, or financial toxicity, can detract from mental health and quality of life and can lead patients to alter their care to offset treatment costs. In doing so, these patients compromise adherence which can contribute to disparities (Zafar Oncologist 2013). Among cancers, multiple myeloma treatment is particularly costly due to use of expensive, novel agents, often in combination, and for extended durations. One study found that patients with myeloma frequently reported financial toxicity and used coping strategies, including borrowing money or prematurely stopping treatment (Huntington Lancet Haematology 2015). In this study, we aim to measure financial toxicity in a cohort of patients with myeloma and examine relationships between financial toxicity and demographic, socioeconomic, and clinical factors. We further aim to follow this cohort longitudinally to examine the course of financial toxicity.