“The lower the income, the later the cancer diagnosis”

All.Can Korea presents survey outcome on 495 patients

Needs to raise awareness in examining cancer at early stage for low-income community

A survey found a clear correlation between the income level and the level of tumor development and metastasis when a patient with cancer is diagnosed.

 

A not-for-profit organization advocating the improvement in inefficiency in cancer treatment environment, ‘All.Can Korea’ kicked off on Dec.

 

10 and disclosed a survey result on 495 cancer patients.

 

All.Can Korea said the objective of the survey was to explore inefficiency a cancer patient in South Korea experiences during their treatment, and to seek detailed solution for the patient-centered cancer treatment environment.

 

The survey was conducted with cancer patient organizations via an online platform, and the questionnaires were categorized into four areas—cancer diagnosis, cancer treatment, post-treatment management, and exposure to cancer treatment information and financial impact.

 

The lower the income, the later the patient finds out about the cancer As a result, the majority of patients said they had ‘first discovered the cancer, when they detected the symptoms.’ The majority of the respondents (38.1 percent) answered they were diagnosed with cancer after experiencing detectable symptoms, even for the six major cancer types (stomach, colon, liver, breast, ovarian and lung cancers) examined by the national health check up program.

 

And the phenomenon was more apparent when the monthly household income was lower.

 

Also the level of tumor development and metastasis differed vastly depending on the cancer patient’s monthly income level.

 

35.5 percent of the respondents were earning less than 3 million won a month when diagnosed at stage I, whereas 57.8 percent of patients earning more than 6 million won a month were diagnosed at the initial stage.

 

So the higher the income, the earlier the patients discover about the cancer.

 

Comparatively more patients with lower monthly income were diagnosed at stage IV.

 

And 18.2 percent of the respondents with income less than 3 million won had their tumor already metastasized at the point of initial diagnosis, which doubled the rate of respondents making over 6 million won at the 8.4 percent.

 

Cancer patients do not see the need to manage their mental health Regardless of their mental distress during diagnosis and treatment, the patients seemed to be unaware of the necessity of mental support due to the imminent financial complications they face in daily life.

 

The top two factors the respondents answered they were most concerned about when diagnosed with cancer were ‘the fear of possible death (36.8 percent)’ and ‘concerns for the family (36.8 percent).’ They picked ‘financial aid for expensive non-reimbursed examination cost’ as the most wanted improvement (48.3 percent).

 

The difficulties during cancer treatment showed more than 20 percent point differences ranging from 46.5 percent of answering ‘physical pain’ to 45.5 percent ‘mental distress,’ 41.3 percent ‘faltering mental state,’ 26.9 percent ‘financial complications’ and 21.5 percent ‘burden of treatment cost.’ But the most sought after answer to solve the difficulties was ‘financial support for treatment and sharing information related to the system’ with 24.5 percent.

 

However, a patient’s mental health is a crucial factor that also affects the cancer treatment outcome.

 

Accordingly, other countries even include counseling sessions in the cancer treatment process starting from the diagnosis, but South Korea has not implemented such multidisciplinary treatment and the patients even have negative perception on psychological therapy.

 

Representing All.Can Korea, Choi Sung-chul said, “The survey holds an integral meaning as it has confirmed the inefficiency the patients experience during the entire cancer management process starting from diagnosis through post-treatment phase.

 

All.Can Korea is to create a patient-centered efficient cancer treatment environment by focusing on the most important parts that help the patients to fight against cancer.”