Financial Toxicity Common Among Families Of Childhood Leukemia Patients

Key Takeaways

• Childhood leukemia treatment can increase risk of financial toxicity among families

• Nearly a third of families have trouble making ends meet while their child undergoes chemotherapy

• They are more likely to lose income and struggle with basic living expenses

THURSDAY, Dec. 11, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Childhood leukemia can land a family in dire financial straights, a new study says.

Nearly a third of families develop serious financial difficulties while their child receives chemotherapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common childhood cancer, researchers reported Sunday at a meeting of the American Society of Hematology in Orlando, Florida.

This includes losing 25% or more of their household income and struggling to afford basic living expenses like housing, food and utilities, researchers said.

“Many families reported experiencing financial difficulties as early as six months into treatment and nearly 1 in 4 families who reported no financial hardship at the time their child was diagnosed with cancer developed hardship during the child’s treatment,” lead researcher Dr. Daniel Zheng, an attending oncologist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said in a news release.

About 3,000 new cases of ALL are diagnosed each year in the U.S., Zheng said.

More than 90% of children survive treatment, but it typically involves at least two years of chemo, Zheng said.

“That's a lot of clinic visits, hospitalizations and disruption of a family’s day-to-day life,” Zheng said.

For the new study, researchers talked to 422 families of children enrolled in a clinical trial of ALL treatments between 2017 and 2021. The trial took place at eight hospitals in the U.S. and Canada.

The families completed questionnaires at four times — within 30 days of diagnosis and at 6, 12 and 24 months. They were asked their household income and how well their family finances were faring.

At six months, 1 in 5 families had experienced new difficulties covering living expenses (19%) and had lost 25% or more of their annual income since starting treatment (20%).

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By the end of chemo two years later, 30% of families were struggling to cover living expenses and nearly 32% had lost a quarter or more of their annual income, the study found.

“It was striking to us that by 24 months, nearly a third of the families were unable to meet basic living costs at some point during their child’s ALL treatment,” Zheng said.

Among the 307 families who had no financial hardships entering treatment, 24% experienced new difficulties covering living expenses and 28% said they’d lost a quarter or more of their income.

Families of Hispanic or Black children were more likely to develop financial toxicity, along with families that spoke a language other than English at home, single-parent households, families on public insurance like Medicaid, and families with income below 200% of the federal poverty line.

Researchers now are looking into ways to help families deal with the financial toxicity of cancer treatment for kids.

Findings presented at medical meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

The Leukemia Research Foundation has more on acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

SOURCE: American Society of Hematology, news release, Dec. 6, 2025

What This Means For You

Families of children being treated for leukemia are at risk for serious financial hardship.