Lymphedema-associated comorbidities and treatment gap

Area of Science:

• Vascular Medicine
• Oncology
• Dermatology

Background:

• Lymphedema (LE) is an under-recognized vascular disease with limited understanding of its comorbidities and causes.
• Knowledge of LE comorbidities and treatment is crucial for diagnostic decisions and healthcare planning.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the prevalence of LE-associated comorbidities.
• To assess the treatment rates for LE patients across various comorbidities.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of deidentified administrative claims data from Blue Health Intelligence (BHI) database (26,902 LE patients).
• Inclusion criteria: continuous medical benefits for 12 months pre- and post-index date (2012-2016).
• Patients categorized by comorbidity and LE treatment status (manual lymphatic drainage, physical therapy, compression garments, pneumatic compression devices).

Main Results:

• Breast cancer was the most frequent comorbidity (32.1%), with 94.2% receiving LE treatment.
• Venous leg ulcer, the most common non-cancer comorbidity (9.6%), had an LE treatment rate of 81.7%.
• Other cancers like melanoma (2.1%) and prostate cancer (0.7%) had lower treatment rates (75% and 82%, respectively).

Conclusions:

• This is the largest study to date on LE comorbidities and associated treatment rates.
• A significant proportion of cancer-related LE patients do not receive appropriate treatment.
• Advanced venous disease is a frequently untreated LE comorbidity, indicating a treatment gap.