Elizabeth Aby, MD: Financial Burden in Adults Undergoing Liver Transplant Evaluation

Findings from a pair of studies presented at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2024 are providing clinicians with an overview of the financial impact of chronic liver disease.

Although financial burden is frequently described in literature across other specialties, Elizabeth Aby, MD, assistant professor of medicine in the division of gastroenterology, hepatology, and nutrition at the University of Minnesota, noted that it is not a well-explored topic in hepatology, especially in liver transplant candidates. She and a group of experts from 12 centers across the US sought to address this gap in research by looking at health-related quality of life and social risk factors in adults undergoing liver transplant evaluation.

“I think one of the things that we sort of see but don't really put into numbers is that 26% of our patients had had high financial burden. So 1 in 4 of the patients that we're seeing had high financial burden,” Aby explained to HCPLive. “I don't think we're doing as good of a job as we could be at sort of understanding that phenotype and who has high financial burden.”

Results from both studies showed high financial burden was linked to higher symptom burden; shortness of breath; anxiety; lower health-related quality of life; healthcare-related financial insecurity; housing insecurity; and transportation insecurity. Investigators called attention to an intricate interplay between health, financial, and social risk factors and the importance of screening for and addressing these factors.

“One of the things that we're also looking at is what are the barriers for folks from screening to transplant and how can we ameliorate those differences to get patients who may have some other barriers to get to transplantation,” Aby concluded.

References:

1. ^{Aby ES, Rice J, Kriss M, et al. HIGH FINANCIAL BURDEN IS LINKED TO INCREASED SYMPTOM BURDEN AND POOR HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE IN ADULTS UNDERGOING LIVER TRANSPLANT EVALUATION: RESULTS FROM THE U.S. MULTICENTER PACE-LT STUDY. Abstract presented at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2024 Annual Meeting. Washington, DC. May 17-21, 2024.}
2. ^{Aby ES, Rice J, Kriss M, et al. HIGH FINANCIAL BURDEN IS COMMON AMONG ADULTS UNDERGOING LIVER TRANSPLANT (LT) EVALUATION AND IS ASSOCIATED WITH FINANCIAL, HOUSING AND TRANSPORTATION INSECURITY: THE U.S. MULTICENTER PACE-LT STUDY. Abstract presented at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2024 Annual Meeting. Washington, DC. May 17-21, 2024.}