Browsing by Author "Lieber, Sarah"

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Financial burden following adult liver transplantation is common and associated with adverse recipient outcomes
    (Wolters Kluwer, 2024) Ufere, Nneka N.; Serper, Marina; Kaplan, Alyson; Horick, Nora; Indriolo, Teresa; Li, Lucinda; Satapathy, Nishant; Donlan, John; Castano Jimenez, Janeth C.; Lago-Hernandez, Carlos; Lieber, Sarah; Gonzalez, Carolina; Keegan, Eileen; Schoener, Kimberly; Bethea, Emily; Dageforde, Leigh-Anne; Yeh, Heidi; El-Jawahri, Areej; Park, Elyse R.; Vodkin, Irine; Schonfeld, Emily; Nipp, Ryan; Desai, Archita; Lai, Jennifer C.; Medicine, School of Medicine
    The financial impact of liver transplantation has been underexplored. We aimed to identify associations between high financial burden (≥10% annual income spent on out-of-pocket medical costs) and work productivity, financial distress (coping behaviors in response to the financial burden), and financial toxicity (health-related quality of life, HRQOL) among adult recipients of liver transplant. Between June 2021 and May 2022, we surveyed 207 adult recipients of liver transplant across 5 US transplant centers. Financial burden and distress were measured by 25 items adapted from national surveys of cancer survivors. Participants also completed the Work Productivity and Activity Impairment and EQ-5D-5L HRQOL questionnaires. In total, 23% of recipients reported high financial burden which was significantly associated with higher daily activity impairment (32.9% vs. 23.3%, p =0.048). In adjusted analyses, the high financial burden was significantly and independently associated with delayed or foregone medical care (adjusted odds ratio, 3.95; 95% CI, 1.85-8.42) and being unable to afford basic necessities (adjusted odds ratio, 5.12; 95% CI: 1.61-16.37). Recipients experiencing high financial burden had significantly lower self-reported HRQOL as measured by the EQ-5D-5L compared to recipients with low financial burden (67.8 vs. 76.1, p =0.008) and an age-matched and sex-matched US general population (67.8 vs. 79.1, p <0.001). In this multicenter cohort study, nearly 1 in 4 adult recipients of liver transplant experienced a high financial burden, which was significantly associated with delayed or foregone medical care and lower self-reported HRQOL. These findings underscore the need to evaluate and address the financial burden in this population before and after transplantation.