The impact of targeted therapy on healthcare resource use in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma: The University of Sherbrooke experience

Abstract

Introduction: We assessed the impact of targeted therapies on healthcare resource use and compared treatment regimens used in patients diagnosed with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC).Methods: Clinicopathological and administrative data of patients with mRCC from our institution were retrospectively collected from January 2000 to August 2014. Patients were divided into two groups based on the use of targeted therapies. Healthcare resource use (HCRU) data included non-scheduled total number of hospitalizations, total days hospitalized, emergency department visits, and healthcare professional consultations. Each variable was presented with absolute and relative values (i.e., per month of survival). Statistics relied on the use of t-student and Chi-square tests.Results: Ninety-nine patients were included in the study; 60 were treated with targeted therapy. There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups for demographic features and clinicopathological stage. HCRU analysis revealed an absolute increase in the median number of healthcare consultants (6 vs. 4; p<0.01) and emergency department visits (1 vs. 0; p=0.02) for the targeted therapy group. However, analysis per month of survival showed the targeted therapy group had fewer consultants (0.33 vs. 0.40; p=0.04) and hospitalizations (0.09 vs. 0.13; p=0.03) than their counterpart. Population size, non-randomization, treatment selection bias, and heterogeneity were the main limitations of this study.Conclusions: Monthly use of HCRU is lower in mRCC patients treated with targeted therapies. However, because of a greater overall survival, their absolute total HCRU will be higher than those not exposed to targeted agents.