Fractures and health care resource use in cancer patients with chemotherapy-associated peripheral neuropathy (CAPN).
e13038 Background: Chemotherapy has been associated with increased risk of fractures1. This study examines the real-world incidence of fractures and healthcare resource use (HRU) that may be associated with CAPN in cancer patients. Methods: A retrospective analysis utilized a national health insurer claims -database (2001-2009), to identify patients ≥18 yrs with a cancer ICD-9-code (140-239) and a chemotherapy drug code (J9xxx). The 1st chemotherapy date was the "index date." Patients with a record of peripheral neuropathy (PN) in the pre-index date were excluded. Patients with a PN post-index were matched with no-PN post-index (non-PN) based on gender, age and index date. Both groups were compared for number of fractures, HRU (hospital outpatient (OP), office, and emergency-room [ER] visits) and all-cause costs in their 365-days post-index period. Time to 1st fracture post-index was compared using Kaplan Meier time to event analysis. Results: Of 34,625 patient meeting the inclusion criteria, 1675 patients (4.3%) formed the PN group and were matched to non-PN group. At baseline, mean age was 54.9 yrs, 62.5% were females, and no difference in % of bone metastasis (p=0.12) between the groups. In PN group, 5.3% (n=87) had a fracture 365-days post-index compared to 3.5% (n=58) in non-PN group (p<0.05). Mean days to fracture from index date in PN group was shorter than the non-PN group (150.9 vs. 153.4, p<0.05). In PN group, annual mean number of OP visit (14.6 vs. 12.0, p<0.0001), ER visit (0.47 vs. 0.30, p<0.001), and office visits (30.4 vs. 23.3, p<0.0001), were higher compared to non-PN group. Annual healthcare cost of PN patients was 21% higher than non-PN patients ($64,578 vs. $53,221) and CAPN-related cost in PN group was estimated to be $5,580 annually. Conclusions: Patients with CAPN were associated with higher incidence of fractures, HRU and cost.