Socio-economic implications of cancer survivorship: Results from the PROFILES registry

Introduction: The goal of this large population-based study was to examine the socioeconomic implications of cancer survivorship. Methods: Individuals alive and diagnosed with colorectal cancer and melanoma between 1998 and 2007 or Hodgkin lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma or multiple myeloma between 1999 and 2008 as registered in the Eindhoven Cancer Registry received a questionnaire on work changes and problems with obtaining a new (or extended) health care insurance, life insurance or a home loan; 70% (n = 2892) responded. Results: Results showed that 28% of all cancer patients experienced changes in their work situation after cancer. Most of them switched to part-time work or stopped working entirely. Patients (3.4%) who tried to obtain a different or upgrade their health care insurance experienced problems and in most cases, these were eventually resolved. Problems with life insurance were somewhat more common with 18% of those who tried to obtain a life insurance experiencing problems. The majority of these patients was rejected by the insurance company (61%) or was accepted at a higher premium (22%). Of the 21% who tried to obtain a home loan, 9% experienced problems. However, 22.2% got accepted eventually, 27.8% got accepted but at a higher mortgage payment and 22.2% got rejected but were eventually accepted by another bank. Conclusions: Almost a third of cancer survivors experienced changes in their work situation after cancer. Problems with obtaining health insurance, life insurance and home loans were also common. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.