Comorbid Conditions in Patients With Metastatic Colorectal Cancer

Patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) often have other medical conditions that may impact treatment decisions, prognoses and quality of care. We aimed to assess co-existing medical conditions in the mCRC patient population. This retrospective cohort study used linked medical and pharmacy claims data from two US-based Medstat MarketScan claims databases and identified patients with newly diagnosed mCRC between January 2005 and June 2008.

Patient data were analyzed for comorbid conditions and medication use in the year prior to diagnosis of mCRC. Univariate analyses were conducted to compare the comorbid conditions between patients aged ≥ 65 and < 65 years old. In total, 12 648 patients aged ≥ 18 years were identified. The study was evenly populated by gender and age above and below 65, and most patients had a primary diagnosis of colon cancer (70.1%).

The most prevalent comorbidity was cardiovascular disease (CVD) (55.7% of patients) including hypertension (40.8%), cardiac dysrhythmia (14.2%), coronary artery disease (13.5%), congestive heart failure (7.2%) and arterial and venous thromboembolism (6.2% and 4.6%, respectively). Most comorbidities were significantly more prevalent in patients ≥ 65 years of age, particularly with respect to CVD (67.9% versus 42.5%, respectively; P < 0.0001). Additionally, nearly half (49.7%) of the patients received antihypertensive agents and many patients were prescribed more than one class of medications prior to mCRC diagnosis.

Comorbid medical conditions, particularly CVDs, are common in patients with mCRC, which could increase the complexity of patient management. This should be a consideration integral to the selection of the most appropriate treatment for individual patients.