Social determinants of health and financial burden among patients with pancreatic cancer at a tertiary cancer center.

678 Background: Financial toxicity (FT) represents a challenge for cancer patients that impacts treatment decisions, patient satisfaction, and quality of life. Social determinants of health (SDoH) screening may predict who is at risk of FT and could potentially benefit from financial interventions. Methods: This is a retrospective study of all cancer patients presenting to Mayo Clinic sites between Sept 2023 – Jun 2024. Patients completed SDoH questionnaires and were given risk scores of Low Risk, Medium Risk, and High Risk for SDoH categories: Financial Strain Risk, Transportation Risk, and Food Insecurity Risk. Patient financial data including active debt amounts, insurance coverage, and financial aid were collected. Patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) were compared to those with pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNET) and patients with other cancers (Others). Categorical variables were compared with Pearson's Chi-squared test, continuous variables with Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test. P values < 0.05 were considered significant. Results: Data was obtained from 88,039 patients, 2,607 of whom had PDAC and 449 had PNET. Compared to PDAC patients, PNET patients and Others were more likely to have Medium/High risk scores for Financial Strain Risk (6% vs 6.5% and 8.5%, respectively) and Food Insecurity (1.7% vs 3.8% and 3.2%) (Table). There was no statistically significant difference in median medical debt and need of financial assistance between the groups. Among PDAC patients, there were differences in distributions among race, primary language spoken, and patient electronic record access depending on Financial Risk categories. African American patients had the greatest proportion of Medium/High risk (12.9%) compared to Asian (4.4%) and White (5.8%) patients (P<0.001). Among patients with English as their primary language, 64.9% had Low Risk scores compared to 27.7% with other primary languages (P<0.001). Patients with electronic record access were more likely to report High Risk scores (6.9%) compared to those without access (1.6%). Conclusions: Per patient responses collected, PDAC patients presenting to our center have lower risk of financial strain and similar medical debt levels compared to the remainder of cancer patients. Among PDAC patients, higher financial strain was experienced by non-whites (7.9% vs 5.8%). Diagnosis PDAC (N=2607) PNET (N=449) Other (N=84983) p value Current Financial Risk (Grouped) < 0.001 - Low Risk 1662 (63.8%) 304 (67.7%) 59298 (69.8%) - Medium/High Risk 157 (6.0%) 29 (6.5%) 7209 (8.5%) - Unknown/Missing 788 (30.2%) 116 (25.8%) 18476 (21.7%) Food Insecurity Risk < 0.001 - Low Risk 1764 (67.7%) 308 (68.6%) 63235 (74.4%) - Medium Risk 45 (1.7%) 17 (3.8%) 2703 (3.2%) - Unknown/Missing 798 (30.6%) 124 (27.6%) 19045 (22.4%) Median Active Debt in USD 1102.230 1020.010 1141.135 0.593