Profiles of financial toxicity and influencing factors among cancer patients: A latent profile analysis.

Background: While cancer treatment has improved patient prognosis, it has also become more costly. The high hospitalization expenses for cancer patients place a significant financial burden on individuals, families, and society.

Objectives: To identify the potential categories and characteristics of Financial Toxicity (FT) among cancer patients and explore the associated influencing factors.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 299 cancer patients in southwest China from February 2023 to May 2023(response rate 96.45 %). FT was measured by Financial Toxicity based on Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (COST-PROM), emotional inhibition was measured by the emotional inhibition scale (EIS), and treatment burden was measured by the Treatment Burden Questionnaire (TBQ). We used latent profile analysis (LPA) by Mplus.8.0 to identify latent classes of the FT. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the relevant factors on the different categories.

Results: The FT of cancer patients can be identified into 3 groups: high-level (43.1 %), medium-level (36.1 %), and low-level (20.7 %) groups. Literacy, annual household income, health problem dimension scores, verbal inhibition scores, and self-control scores can be the predictors of FT among different profiles.

Conclusions: Our findings may provide a new viewpoint for managing FT among cancer patients. Healthcare providers should pay attention to the FT of cancer patients and develop targeted interventions to reduce their FT levels.