The following is a summary of “Impact of Comprehensive Health Insurance on Quality of Life in Low-Income Hispanic Men with Prostate Cancer,” published in the FEBRUARY 2023 issue of Urology by Siapno, et al.

For a study, researchers sought to assess the impact of transitioning from a disease-focused program, IMPACT, to comprehensive health insurance under Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on general and prostate cancer-specific quality of life (QoL) among low-income men previously uninsured. The study hypothesized that general QoL would improve and prostate cancer-specific QoL would remain unchanged after transitioning to comprehensive health insurance.

Researchers compared 30 men who transitioned to comprehensive insurance (newly insured/Medicaid group) with 54 men who remained in the prostate cancer program (uninsured/IMPACT group). General QoL was assessed using the RAND SF-12v2™ (12-Item Short Form Survey, version 2), and prostate cancer-specific QoL was assessed using the UCLA PCI (Prostate Cancer Index) one year before, at, and one year after the transition. In addition, the independent effects of Medicaid coverage on QoL outcomes using repeated-measures regression.

The cohort consisted primarily of Hispanic men (82%). Patient demographics and clinical characteristics were similar between the groups at transition. General and prostate cancer-specific QoL did not differ between the groups and remained stable over time. Radical prostatectomy as the primary treatment and shorter time since treatment was associated with worse urinary and sexual function across both groups and overall three-time points.

Transitioning to full-scope insurance or remaining in the free prostate cancer-focused treatment program resulted in stable general and prostate cancer-specific QoL. The stability in outcomes could be attributed to the high-touch navigation aspects of a disease-focused program.

Reference: goldjournal.net/article/S0090-4295(22)00954-2/fulltext