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NCT Number: NCT05104632

Financial Toxicity in Breast Cancer Surgery

The purpose of this study is to evaluate financial toxicity, or financial harm, in breast cancer patients. The study will follow patients throughout their cancer treatment. The study investigators will measure if patients are experiencing financial toxicity and if it changes throughout treatment, and whether it's associated with different cancers, treatments, or demographics. Also, the study investigators will measure if financial toxicity impacts other areas of life (e.g., well-being, satisfaction). Finally, patients will be asked to estimate how much money they expect to spend on out-of-pocket expenses during their treatment and how their finances and employment status have changed since their cancer diagnosis.

Active, Not Recruiting

This study is active but is not currently recruiting participants.

Key information

Conditions

Breast Cancer Behavior Behavioral Symptoms Breast Diseases Breast Neoplasms Financial Stress Neoplasms Neoplasms by Site Skin Diseases Skin and Connective Tissue Diseases Stress, Psychological

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

Female

Study type

Observational

Primary location

Juravinski Hospital, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

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About this study

One in three breast cancer patients experiences treatment-related, cost-associated distress. This financial harm is termed "financial toxicity" (FT). FT is the strongest independent risk factor for diminished quality of life and patient-reported outcomes (PROs) among cancer patients. The present study will be the first prospective cohort study examining FT in breast cancer patients in Canada, or any other publicly-funded healthcare system.

The primary objective is to detect the prevalence and trajectory of FT using a validated instrument and its association with patient and treatment-related characteristics. The secondary objective is to assess the effects of financial toxicity on patient-reported quality of life, well-being, and satisfaction. The tertiary objective is to assess patients' baseline cost expectations for reconstructive surgery, actual out-of-pocket spending, private insurance or workplace benefits expenditure, and employment status, over the course of treatment.

Participants will be recruited at their consultation with the general surgeon, will consent to be observed for up to 1 year and be asked to complete a series of validated questionnaires, at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months.

The primary outcome is financial toxicity (FT), assessed using the COmprehensive Score for financial Toxicity (COST), a validated patient-reported outcome measure that uses a 12 item, five-point Likert scale type.

The secondary outcomes include (1) well-being and satisfaction, as measured by the BREAST-Q, (2) quality of life as measured by the 12-Item Short Form Health Survey (12-SF), (3) patient-level (age, co-morbidities, stage, socioeconomic status) and treatment-associated (complications, type of breast surgery, decision to have reconstruction, type of reconstruction), and (4) baseline cost expectations, out-of-pocket spending, private insurance or workplace benefits expenditure, and employment status, over the course of treatment.

Multivariate regression will be used to identify patient and treatment level factors associated with financial toxicity. First, the association between the COST scores and each survey question response, patient characteristic, and treatment factor will be determined. A stepwise linear regression will be completed with backward elimination to generate a list of co-variates based on their significance level. All variables in the final selected model has a significance level < 0.1. Other data will be characterized the study samples by presenting the means, standard deviations, and medians for continuous variables and frequencies for categorical variables.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Female
  • Have an indication for surgical treatment of breast cancer
  • 18 years of age or older
  • Able to understand and communicate in English
  • Have access to email and internet and are able to fill out an electronic survey

Exclusion criteria

  • Patients will be excluded if they have recurrent or metastatic disease

Treatment and study plan

Primary outcomes

  1. Financial Toxicity (FT)

    Time frame: 12 months

    FT will be assessed using the COmprehensive Score for financial Toxicity (COST). The COST measure is an 11-item cancer-specific patient-reported outcome measure. Each item is scored on a 0 to 4-point Likert scale, where a lower total score represents greater financial distress.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Financial Toxicity (FT)

    Time frame: Baseline, 6 months

    FT will be assessed using the COmprehensive Score for financial Toxicity (COST). The COST measure is an 11-item cancer-specific patient-reported outcome measure. Each item is scored on a 0 to 4-point Likert scale, where a lower total score represents greater financial distress.

  2. Satisfaction with Breasts

    Time frame: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months

    This will be measured using the BREAST-Q questionnaire; Satisfaction with Breast Module. All questions are answered on Likert scales (scored 1-4). This module varies based on the type of breast surgery the patient underwent (mastectomy only, breast conserving surgery, or reconstruction). The answers of this section are totalled and compared to the equivalent Rasch transformed score. Zero represents the worst possible score and 100 represents the best.

  3. Psychosocial Well-Being

    Time frame: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months

    This will be measured using the BREAST-Q questionnaire; Psychosocial Well-Being Module. All questions are answered on Likert scales (scored 1-5). The answers this section are totalled and compared to the equivalent Rasch transformed score. Zero represents the worst possible score and 100 represents the best.

  4. Satisfaction with Surgeon

    Time frame: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months

    This will be measured using the BREAST-Q questionnaire; Satisfaction with Surgeon Module. All questions are answered on Likert scales (scored 0-4). The answers this section are totalled and compared to the equivalent Rasch transformed score. Zero represents the worst possible score and 100 represents the best.

  5. Quality of Life (mental and physical health)

    Time frame: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months

    Quality of life, will be assessed using the 12-Item Short Form Health Survey (12-SF) that evaluates overall physical and mental health. The SF-12 is a general health patient-reported outcome measure that has 12 items, is reported 0 to 100 for two domains. Higher scores represent better quality of life.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

McMaster University

Other

Collaborators

  • Juravinski Cancer Center
  • St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton

Registry information

Official study title

Financial Toxicity in Surgical Breast Cancer Patients: A Prospective, Multicenter Cohort Study

Important dates

Study start
2022
Primary completion
2027
Study completion
2027
First posted
Nov 3, 2021
Registry last updated
Jun 15, 2025

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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