Economic Burden of Venous Thromboembolism in Cancer Patients -- a Comparative Analysis between Matched Patients with Cancer with and without a Diagnosis of Venous Thromboembolism

This study was conducted to assess the economic burden of VTE in cancer patients in comparison their non-VTE peers with similar cancer type.All-cause costs over 3-year period were used and included the costs of all services. These were further explored to compare the total cost of care, cost based on the site of utilization of care and pharmacy cost between the patients with VTE with their matched peers. VTE-related costs were identified with a primary or secondary diagnosis of DVT or PE, and were evaluated for the entire follow-up period, starting from the initiation of the anticoagulant therapy until end of eligibility or end of data, whichever was earlier. Continuous factors were summarized by the median. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to test for differences in the distribution between the VTE and non-VTE groups for cost and number of visits. Overall costs as well as total cost per day/visit were compared between groups. The costs were also evaluated by site of utilization (Emergency room vs inpatient vs outpatient) and by cancer subtype.Results:Among active cancer enrollees, there were 6,569 (3.4%) enrollees with VTE and 188,721 (96.6%) without. Average age was around 60 years in both groups. There were approximately 50 % females in each group and breast cancer was the most common type of cancer in the non-VTE group while gastrointestinal cancers were more common in the VTE group. Incidence of comorbid conditions like diabetes, hypertension and chronic kidney disea...
Source: Blood - Category: Hematology Authors: Tags: 901. Health Services Research-Non-Malignant Conditions: Thrombosis and Anticoagulation Source Type: research