Unmet social care needs of people living with and beyond cancer: prevalence and predictors from an English longitudinal survey

Objectives: This study estimates the prevalence of unmet social care needs of people over 50 living in England with cancer and the effect of cancer on unmet needs.

Methods: We used data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. We estimated the mean, standard deviation and 95% CI of the prevalence of unmet social care needs among people with cancer. Logistic regression analysis with individual random effects was used to estimate the effect of cancer on unmet needs controlling for other determinants. Pain measures were included stepwise in the regression to estimate their mediating effect.

Results: The prevalence rate of unmet social care needs among people living with cancer is 9% (SD=0.29; 95% CI: 8.3-10) compared to 6% (SD=0.24; 95% CI: 6.1-6.5) among people without cancer. People with cancer have significantly higher odds of having unmet needs by a factor of 1.44 (95% CI: 1.20-1.72), after controlling for the effect of other characteristics. Adding pain measures reduces the effect of cancer to a factor of 1.36 (95% CI: 1.14-1.64) in the odds of unmet needs but still remains statistically significant.

Conclusions: A more integrated approach to cancer care is more likely to address the high level of unmet needs and consequent adverse implications.