Table 1 Socio-demographic, disease and medical finance characteristics of the study sample (N = 640)
Socio-demographic characteristics | Â |
Age (years)a | 59.9 (11.1) |
Sex | Â |
 Male | 229 (35.8%) |
 Female | 411 (64.2%) |
Marital status | Â |
 Single/divorced/widowed | 179 (28.0%) |
 Married/cohabitation | 461 (72.0%) |
Educational level | Â |
 No formal education/primary | 202 (31.6%) |
 Secondary | 325 (50.8%) |
 Post-secondary or above | 113 (17.7%) |
Have full-/part-time job | Â |
 No | 507 (79.2%) |
 Yes | 133 (20.8%) |
Household monthly income (HK$) | Â |
 < 10,000 | 259 (40.5%) |
 10,000–29,999 | 197 (30.8%) |
 ≥ 30,000 | 144 (22.5%) |
 Don’t know | 40 (6.3%) |
Living alone | Â |
 No | 585 (91.4%) |
 Yes | 55 (8.6%) |
Time traveling from home to hospital (minutes)b | 60 (40–90) |
Disease characteristics | Â |
Time since diagnosis (months)b | 14 (6–36) |
Stage of disease | Â |
 I | 49 (7.7%) |
 II | 111 (17.3%) |
 III | 172 (26.9%) |
 IV | 303 (47.3%) |
 Unsure | 5 (0.8%) |
Specific sites of the cancer | Â |
 Breast | 233 (36.4%) |
 Gynecological | 27 (4.2%) |
 Head and neck | 34 (5.3%) |
 Gastric and colorectal | 162 (25.3%) |
 Genitourinary | 35 (5.5%) |
 Lung | 104 (16.2%) |
 Hematological | 25 (3.9%) |
 Skin, bone and soft tissue | 10 (1.6%) |
 Brain and central nervous system, endocrine glands and others | 10 (1.6%) |
Type of treatment received | Â |
 Surgery | 417 (65.2%) |
 Radiotherapy | 290 (45.3%) |
 Chemotherapy | 522 (81.6%) |
 Target therapy | 264 (41.3%) |
 Hormonal therapy | 141 (22.0%) |
 Immunotherapy | 19 (3.0%) |
Admitted to A&E or hospital due to cancer related complications in the last year | Â |
 No | 364 (56.9%) |
 Yes | 276 (43.1%) |
Admitted to A&E due to cancer related complications in the last year | Â |
 0 | 410 (64.4%) |
 1–2 | 169 (26.5%) |
 ≥ 3 | 58 (9.1%) |
Admitted to hospital due to cancer related complications in the last year | Â |
 0 | 384 (60.3%) |
 1–2 | 194 (30.5%) |
 ≥ 3 | 59 (9.3%) |
Any co-existing disease | Â |
 No | 387 (60.5%) |
 Yes | 253 (39.5%) |
Medical finance characteristics | Â |
Sources of finance for the cancer treatment | Â |
 Personal income | 120 (18.8%) |
 Personal savings | 496 (77.5%) |
 Personal medical insurance | 164 (25.6%) |
  Children | 194 (30.3%) |
  Parents | 8 (1.3%) |
  Spouse | 111 (17.3%) |
 Civil service medical and dental benefits | 62 (9.7%) |
 CSSA | 35 (5.5%) |
 Social security allowance scheme | 319 (49.8%) |
 Governmental medical fee waiving mechanism | 24 (3.8%) |
 Other drugs or medical assistance programs | 116 (18.1%) |
Ever discussed with health professionals about medical fee | Â |
 No | 239 (37.3%) |
 Yes | 401 (62.7%) |
Willing to discuss with health professionals about medical fee | Â |
 No | 29 (4.5%) |
 Yes | 611 (95.5%) |
Have medical Insurance | Â |
 No | 424 (66.3%) |
 Yes | 216 (33.8%) |
Among those who have medical insurance (n = 216) |  |
Type of medical insurance | Â |
 Personal | 166 (77.2%) |
 Company | 24 (11.2%) |
 Both | 25 (11.6%) |
Insured amount per month (HK$) | Â |
 ≤ 500 | 47 (21.8%) |
 501–1,000 | 78 (36.1%) |
 > 1,000 | 73 (33.8%) |
 Don’t know | 18 (8.3%) |