Incidence, cost, and mortality of neutropenia hospitalization associated with chemotherapy

Neutropenia is a common side effect of chemotherapy, often requiring hospitalization for treatment of severe cases. Neutropenia hospitalization (NH) rates have been reported in individual studies, but national estimates are needed.

Chemotherapy-induced NHs were identified in the 1999 hospital discharge data bases from 7 states. Cancer and chemotherapy prevalence data from the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program and the National Cancer Data Base were used to calculate national NH rates for 13 cancer types. NH cost was estimated by multiplying charges by institution-specific, cost-to-charge ratios from the 1999 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Hospital Cost Report. NH incidence was projected to national levels using population data from the United States Census and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

There were 20,780 discharges with documentation of cancer, chemotherapy, and neutropenia identified. Projecting to national levels, NH incidence was estimated at 60,294 cases (7.83 cases per 1000 cancer patients). The mean NH cost was 13,372 dollars. The mortality rate among patients with NH was estimated at 6.8% or 1 death for every 14 hospitalized patients. Among 13 selected cancer types, the NH rate was 34.20 cases per 1000 patients receiving chemotherapy (1 in 29 patients). NH was particularly common in patients with hematologic tumors, with an incidence of 43.3 cases per 1000 patients with such tumors (1 in 23 patients). The average NH cost for hematologic malignancies was 20,400 dollars, more than double the cost of NH for solid tumors.

According to the current study, NH affects > 60,000 patients with cancer each year in the United States, with an average cost of 13,372 dollars per hospitalization and an associated inpatient mortality rate of 6.8%.