LAUSR

Simple Summary Our goal was to analyze the financial needs of patients with urological cancer on the basis of online crowdfunding campaigns. In our report, we included 2126 individual campaigns fundraising for prostate, bladder, kidney and testicular cancer. We specified the detailed financial needs of uro-oncologic patients, campaigns’ characteristics and the factors associated with campaigns’ success and high fundraising. Our work showed that, with the constantly increasing costs of medical care, patients are looking for funding from online communities including seeking funds for alternative therapies. Overall, these data point to a wide spectrum of patient needs for urologic cancer care as well as identifiable factors influencing campaign success. Abstract Background: we aimed to characterize the financial needs expressed through online crowdfunding for urologic cancers. Methods: the data used in this study came from the online crowdfunding platform GoFundMe.com. Using an automated software method, we extracted data for campaigns related to urologic cancers. Subsequently, four independent investigators reviewed all extracted data on prostate, bladder, kidney and testicular cancer. We analyzed campaigns’ basic characteristics, goals, fundraising, type of treatment and factors associated with successful campaigns. Results: in total, we identified 2126 individual campaigns, which were related to direct treatment costs (34%), living expenses (17%) or both (48%). Median fundraising amounts were greatest for testicular cancer. Campaigns for both complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) (median $11,000) or CAM alone (median $8527) achieved higher fundraising totals compared with those for conventional treatments alone (median $5362) (p < 0.01). The number of social media shares was independently associated with campaign success and highest quartile of fundraising. Conclusions: using an automated web-based approach, we identified and characterized online crowdfunding for urologic cancer care. These findings indicated a diverse range of patient needs related to urologic care and factors related to campaigns’ success.