ArticleJournal of cancer research and clinical oncology2020
Use of GoFundMe
Article in Journal of cancer research and clinical oncology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 33 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- GoFundMe®: Crowdfunding Among Young Adult Patients With Cancer.Clinical journal of oncology nursing · 2025Article
- Insights on Improving Health Insurance Literacy in Diabetes.The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2025Review
- Insights from GoFundMe posts: Analyzing GoFundMe financial aid requests from brain tumor patients in Ontario, Canada.Neuro-oncology practice · 2025Article
- Crowdfunding for Complementary and Alternative Cancer Treatments in Tijuana, Mexico: Content Analysis.JMIR cancer · 2024Article
- The Use of Medical Crowdfunding to Mitigate the Personal Costs of Serious Chronic Illness: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Article
- Mistletoe Extracts from Different Host Trees Disparately Inhibit Bladder Cancer Cell Growth and Proliferation.Cancers · 2023Article
- International medical tourism of US cancer patients for alternative cancer treatments: Financial, demographic, and clinical profiles of online crowdfunding campaigns.Cancer medicine · 2023Article
- The Success of Cancer Crowdfunding Campaigns: Project and Text Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Article
- Using Social Media Data to Investigate Public Perceptions of Cannabis as a Medicine: Narrative Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Review
- Social media discourse and internet search queries on cannabis as a medicine: A systematic scoping review.PloS one · 2023Article
- Symptom clusters associated with complementary and alternative medicine use by cancer patients: A cross-sectional study.PloS one · 2023Article
- Consumer-Generated Discourse on Cannabis as a Medicine: Scoping Review of Techniques.Journal of medical Internet research · 2022Article
- Online Crowdfunding for Urologic Cancer Care.Cancers · 2022Article
- COVID-19 Misinformation and Social Network Crowdfunding: Cross-sectional Study of Alternative Treatments and Antivaccine Mandates.Journal of medical Internet research · 2022Article
- Timing and Motivations for Alternative Cancer Therapy With Insights From a Crowdfunding Platform: Cross-sectional Mixed Methods Study.JMIR cancer · 2022Article
- Crowdsourcing Medical Costs in Dermatology: Cross-sectional Study Analyzing Dermatologic GoFundMe Campaigns.JMIR dermatology · 2022Article
- Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use in Hospitalized Cancer Patients-Study from Silesia, Poland.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- An overview of Fintech applications to solve the puzzle of health care funding: state-of-the-art in medical crowdfunding.Financial innovation · 2022Article
- Characterizing online crowdfunding campaigns for patients with kidney cancer.Cancer medicine · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
14 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeComplementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use is common amongst cancer patients. However, there is growing concern about its safety and efficacy. Online crowdfunding campaigns represent a unique avenue to understand the cancer patient's perspective for using CAM or declining conventional cancer therapy (CCT).
methodsFive hundred GoFundMe campaigns from 2012 to 2019 detailing financial need for cancer treatment were randomly selected and reviewed for endorsement of CAM use, reasons for using CAM, and reasons for declining CCT. Descriptive statistics were used to compare patient and campaign characteristics between 250 CAM users and 250 non-CAM users.
resultsCompared to non-CAM users, CAM users were more likely to be female (70% vs. 54%, p < 0.01), to report more stage IV cancer (54% vs. 12%, p < 0.01), and to have a history of delayed, missed, or misdiagnosis (10% vs. 4%, p < 0.01). Reasons for using CAM include endorsing curative/therapeutic effects 212 (85%), pain/stress reduction 137 (55%), and dissatisfaction with current or past medical treatment options 105 (42%). 87 (35%) CAM users that declined CCT reported that they wanted to try to fight off cancer using CAM first 57 (61%), that CCT was too "toxic" to the body 39 (42%), and cancer was already too advanced, so that CCT would be futile or too aggressive 25 (27%).
conclusionCancer patients on GoFundMe using CAM highly value quality of life, comfort, and autonomy. Physicians should educate themselves on CAM to set realistic expectations and provide comprehensive counseling of the risks and benefits of CAM usage to patients who choose to use CAM to either augment or completely replace CCT.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.