Blacks facing cancer more likely than whites to drain resources to extend life
By Marni Jameson, Orlando Sentinel

When faced with life-threatening cancer, minority patients may be more likely to drain their bank accounts to extend life than whites, according to a study published online today in Cancer.

Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham conducted phone interviews with 4,214 patients participating in the Cancer Care Outcomes Research and Surveillance study. All were newly diagnosed with lung or colon cancer. Researchers asked patients how willing they were to trade personal financial resources for life-prolonging cancer treatment, or would they rather receive treatment that would cost them less but not allow them to live as long.

They found that 80 percent of blacks were willing to exhaust all resources to extend life, compared to 72 percent of Asians, 69 percent of Hispanics and 54 percent of whites. The biggest difference was between whites and blacks: Blacks were 2.4 times more likely than whites to exhaust personal finances to live longer.

Researchers adjusted for such variables as income, age, disease stage and expected time left to live.

Besides ethnicity, other factors that made patients more likely to spend more to prolong life were being younger, having fewer dependents, being divorced or separated, believing that life was in God's hands and having a higher level of social support.

"Any speculation as to why this is would be guessing," said Michelle Martin, the study's lead investigator, adding that, based on her data, she could not say whether the findings extended to other terminal diseases besides lung and colon cancer.

"The reasons behind these preferences are complex, and require further study," she said.

She cited other studies that showed that minorities receive more aggressive care at the end of life, and suspected that those findings may be consistent with hers. "They may reflect patient preferences," she said.

The findings may help health-care providers better tailor cancer treatment to patients' wishes.