Healthcare costs of multiple myeloma: an Italian study

Few economic evaluations are currently available on multiple myeloma (MM) and they address treatment-related rather than disease-related costs. We estimated resource utilisation and costs associated with MM in an Italian haematology department. This was a single-centre observational study which followed retrospectively for 2 years 90 patients with MM stages II-III. To investigate the association between costs and age as a prognostic factor for treatment eligibility, patients were classified in two age groups (under 65 or >65). The annual average cost per patient was very similar in the two subgroups. Drugs and hospitalisations were the largest cost components. Differences between the two age groups were significant only for drugs, hospital admissions and day hospital (DH) days. Autologous stem-cell transplantation (ASCT) accounted for more than 80% of the non-pharmacological therapy costs, being nearly double in the younger patients. Cost of elderly patients is comparable with that of younger ones who generally receive expensive procedures such as ASCT. The higher hospital costs of younger patients were counterbalanced by supportive pharmaceutical care and DH days for older patients, mainly in the group treated with new immunomodulatory agents. Further multi-centre studies on larger samples of patients are needed.