Availability of cancer survivorship services for adolescents and young adults: Findings from the 2022 NCI Community Oncology Research Program Landscape Assessment.

PURPOSE: Adolescents and young adults (AYAs, diagnosed between 15 and 39 years) receive cancer care in diverse settings, posing challenges in delivering survivorship services following treatment. We examined survivorship service availability for AYAs at National Cancer Institute (NCI) Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) practice groups.

METHODS

We utilized data from the 2022 NCORP Landscape Assessment survey to describe survivorship care among AYA-treating practice groups. Univariable and multivariable analyses describe associations between survivorship clinic availability and ancillary tools or services (health-related screening, information technology, and administrative characteristics).

RESULTS

Among the 100 AYA-treating practice groups, less than half (48%) had a survivorship clinic. In multivariable analysis, there were greater odds of having a survivorship clinic among practices that routinely screened for financial distress (odds ratio, 7.05; 95% confidence interval, 1.78-27.91). Although significant upon univariable analysis, health literacy screening, electronic health record vendor, Critical Access Hospital designation, and serving pediatric and a high Medicaid patient population were not significant upon multivariable analysis.

CONCLUSIONS

Over half of AYA-treating practices in community settings lacked available survivorship clinics. Understanding how to leverage available resources is needed to facilitate guideline-concordant, high-quality survivorship care for AYAs.

IMPLICATIONS FOR CANCER SURVIVORS: Given that about half of the surveyed practice groups do not offer survivorship services, alternative mechanisms for delivery of survivorship care to long-term survivors of AYA cancer are needed, including collaboration with primary care providers. Future pragmatic, real-world approaches could explore less resource-intensive strategies and offer insight into implementation contexts in a community setting.