Health Resource Utilization in Patients with Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Receiving Chemotherapy in China

Chemotherapy is the preferred treatment regimen for advanced lung cancer patients. This study investigated the health resources utilized by and medical expenses of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) as well as the influence of various chemotherapy regimens on the final medical costs in China. The aim of this study was to provide physicians with a reference to use as the basis for their choice of treatment.

Data were collected from the Shanghai Chest Hospital's medical charts and billing database. The collected patient information included the baseline characteristics, medical history, chemotherapy regimens, and medical costs, which were used to estimate the health resources utilized by patients and the cost of treatment.

This study included 328 patients, and the average total medical cost was $US14,165. This cost included drugs, which accounted for as much as 78.91% of the total cost, and chemotherapy drugs, which accounted for 51.58% of total drug expenses. The most frequently utilized chemotherapy drug was carboplatin, and the most expensive chemotherapy drug was erlotinib. In drug combinations, gemcitabine was utilized most frequently, the combination of gemcitabine and paclitaxel was the most expensive, and cisplatin was the least expensive drug. Epidermal growth factor receptor-positive patients were treated with targeted drug therapy (icotinib, erlotinib, and gefitinib). The use of recombinant human endostatin was often combined with a vinorelbine plus cisplatin regimen. Traditional Chinese medicines were the most frequently utilized non-chemotherapy drugs, and these drugs were also the most expensive.

The final cost significantly depended on the specific chemotherapy regimen; thus, the rationale and cost of the chemotherapy regimen and adjuvant chemotherapy should be considered in patients with advanced NSCLC.