Characteristics of Online Crowdfunding Campaigns for Urological Cancers in the United States

Abstract

Introduction:We examined the characteristics and financial outcomes of online crowdfunding campaigns for patients with major urological cancers in the U.S.Methods: This cross-sectional study analyzed publicly available data from GoFundMe, the largest online medical crowdfunding service, via automated web scraping. Online campaigns from 2010 to 2018 with the following primary cancer types were included: kidney, prostate, bladder and testicular. Financial outcomes were compared using Kruskal-Wallis and Wilcoxon rank-sum tests. Multivariable analyses were utilized to identify predictors of campaign financial outcomes.Results: Kidney cancers were the most frequent online campaign type (478), followed by prostate (379), bladder (202) and testicular (175) malignancies. Urological cancer campaign recipients frequently requested funding for medical expenses (71%) during active treatment (57%). After adjustment, testicular cancer and children's cancer campaigns generated more donations than other urological and adult cancer campaigns (p <0.05). Family and friend-authored campaigns generated more donations and average donation amounts than self-authored campaigns (p <0.05). Campaign narratives focused on disheartening circumstances received fewer donations than narratives focused on the recipient's high moral character or contributions to society (p <0.05), and unclear narratives received the smallest donation amounts (p <0.05).Conclusions: Urological cancer crowdfunding in the U.S. is primarily used to finance uncovered costs associated with medical care during active treatment. Crowdfunding financial outcomes are likely related to the campaign recipient's age, malignancy type, social network and primary appeal of the narrative. Urologists should be aware of trends in medical crowdfunding in order to better understand the financial burden this patient population faces.

The Use of Medical Crowdfunding to Mitigate the Personal Costs of Serious Chronic Illness: Scoping Review

“…Analysis of data from publicly available MCF campaign pages involved transforming the extracted data into a usable format for analysis. Of the 26 studies, 3 (12%) [ 28 , 32 , 36 ] were analyses of a parent data set created for another study included in this scoping review [ 25 ]. In other words, 4 (15%) of the 26 studies were drawn from the same data set of cancer crowdfunding campaigns.…”

“…The reasons for exemption included the following: data were publicly available, data were deidentified, the researchers had no direct contact with participants, and the study was deemed as not involving human participants. Of the 26 studies, 11 (42%) [ 27 , 30 , 32 , 33 , 37 , 38 , 40 , 42 , 44 , 47 , 48 ] did not mention communicating with an IRB about the study, whereas 10 (38%) [ 1 , 3 , 28 , 31 , 34 , 35 , 39 , 43 , 45 , 46 ] mentioned communication with their IRB but were unclear about the nature of the review (expedited or full) and the requirements for continuing the review. Of the 26 studies, 8 (31%) [ 1 , 3 , 26 , 36 , 38 , 43 , 45 , 46 ] elaborated on strategies to minimize risks to individuals’ privacy and the confidentiality of their data.…”

“…Among the studies that reported the beneficiaries’ disease stage (6/26, 23%) [ 25 , 30 , 32 , 35 , 37 , 38 ], stage IV or end-stage disease was reported most often and applied to between 23.1% and 55.8% of the sample (4/6, 67%) [ 25 , 30 , 35 , 37 ]. For the studies that reported the beneficiaries’ illness phase (3/12, 25%) [ 26 , 28 , 34 ], active treatment predominated. Tables 1 and 2 present information about the populations represented in the samples of the included studies.…”

Online Crowdfunding for Urologic Cancer Care

“…Campaigns for testicular cancer were the most successful in terms of dollar amount raised, a finding that may reflect the effect of the younger age and broader social networks of these patients. Indeed, younger patients with cancer face greater financial toxicity due to comparatively fewer savings, higher rates of uninsurance and potential impacts on family members and dependents [ 11 , 18 ].…”

“…Up until now, there has been only sparse data analyzing online medical crowdfunding in urologic oncology [ 11 , 12 ]. Hence, through large-scale analysis of online crowdfunding campaigns, we aimed to focus on crowdfunding for urologic cancer care and related expenses.…”