Abstract B148: Prevalence of Multimorbidity Among Patients with Newly Diagnosed Cancer at a Safety-Net Health System

Abstract Background: Multimorbidity (MM) presents challenges for cancer care and may require coordination between oncologists and primary or specialty care providers. Nevertheless, U.S.-based studies of MM among cancer patients have mostly been conducted in non-Hispanic White and insured populations, which limits understanding of strategic care planning and resource allocation among more diverse populations. Therefore, we aimed to assess the prevalence of MM among adults with newly diagnosed cancer at a large, racial/ethnically diverse safety-net health system. Methods: We used electronic health record and cancer registry data from JPS Health Network, an urban safety-net health system in North Texas. Our eligible population included patients ≥18 years of age diagnosed with first primary cancer in 2016 – 2020 (excluding in situ cases), whose diagnosis or first-course cancer treatment was received at JPS. Our outcomes of interest were MM (≥2 chronic conditions) and severe MM (≥3 chronic conditions) based on 30 chronic conditions defined by the Centers for Medicare 15% higher than prior studies that included mostly non-Hispanic White adult cancer survivors with higher socioeconomic status. Our findings provide insight about the burden of MM among racially diverse cancer patients with low socioeconomic status, which may inform resource allocation and care coordination initiatives to manage MM. Citation Format: Anand B. Singh, Yan Lu, Aaron W Gehr, Kalyani Narra, Bhavna Tanna, Jolonda Bullock, Rachel J. Meadows. Prevalence of Multimorbidity Among Patients with Newly Diagnosed Cancer at a Safety-Net Health System abstract. In: Proceedings of the 17th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2024 Sep 21-24; Los Angeles, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2024;33(9 Suppl):Abstract nr B148.