Economic Burden of Recurrence Among Resected Medicare Patients With Early Stage NSCLC

Patients with early NSCLC (eNSCLC) who experience recurrence are associated with worse survival outcomes, but the economic burden of recurrence is not well characterized. This study evaluated the incremental health care resource utilization and costs of recurrence in Medicare patients with resected eNSCLC.

This retrospective observational study used Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results cancer registry data linked with Medicare claims. Eligible patients were 65 years and older with newly diagnosed NSCLC stages IB to IIIA (American Joint Committee on Cancer Staging Manual, seventh edition) and surgery between January 2010 and December 2017. Continuous enrollment criteria were applied to ensure appropriate data capture. Per patient per month (PPPM) health care resource utilization and all-cause direct costs were compared for patients with versus without recurrence, which was identified from claims data using diagnosis, procedure, or drug codes. Patients were matched (1:1) using exact matching on cancer stage and treatment, and propensity score matching on other characteristics.

In total, 2035 (44%) out of 4595 patients had evidence of recurrence. After matching, 1494 patients were included in each cohort. Patients with recurrence had a significantly higher number of inpatient visits (+0.25 PPPM), outpatient visits (+1.10 PPPM), physician services (+3.70 PPPM), and emergency department (ED) visits (+0.25 PPPM; all p < 0.001). The average follow-up PPPM cost in the recurrence cohort was U.S. dollars $7437 and $1118 in the no-recurrence cohort, resulting in a difference of $6319 PPPM (p < 0.001) with inpatient costs as the largest contributor.

On the basis of a real-world population, the recurrence among patients with resected eNSCLC is associated with increased health care resource utilization and costs.