The impact of depression in cancer patients on healthcare utilization.

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (27_suppl) ◽  
pp. 243-243
Author(s):  
Star Ye ◽  
Aidan Gilbert ◽  
Chao-Hui Huang ◽  
Gabrielle Betty Rocque

243 Background: The Oncology Care Model (OCM) has set several initiatives to improve payment and care delivery in the Medicare patient population, including screening for depression in cancer patients. We evaluated the prevalence of depression in OCM patients and the relationship between depression and healthcare utilization. Methods: This cross-sectional study used patient-reported outcome (PRO) surveys administered in the outpatient setting as part of OCM at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Depression scores and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status were obtained from PRO surveys. Moderate to severe depression was defined as a score ≥10 on the Patient Health Questionnaire 2/9 (PHQ-2/9). Sex, marital status, phase of care, race, disease aggressiveness (stage, progression, cancer type), number of emergency department (ED) visits and inpatient admissions within a 3-month period from survey completion were abstracted from the electronic health record. The relationship between depression and hospital visits was assessed using rate ratios and 95% confidence limits from Poisson regression models adjusting for clinical and demographic characteristics. Results: Of 856 patients surveyed, 68% of patients were female, and 27% of patients were non-Caucasian. Notably, almost 14% of patients had moderate to severe depression (PHQ-2/9≥10). The cancer-specific prevalence of at least moderate depression was 2% in breast, 1% in gastrointestinal, 2% in genitourinary, 5% in gynecologic, and 2% in hematologic cancers. In adjusted models, the inpatient admission and ED visit rate in the 3 months following PRO survey completion did not differ by depression category (RR: 1.22; CI: 0.93-1.61). Conclusions: Over 13% of cancer patients report clinically significant depression during routine screening, which highlights the continued need for outpatient counseling and behavioral services. Although rates of inpatient admissions and ED visits were not impacted by the presence of depression, further analysis is needed to evaluate the impact of treating depression on healthcare utilization over time.

2003 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALICE INMAN ◽  
KENNETH L. KIRSH ◽  
STEVEN D. PASSIK

Objective: Spirituality has been neglected when assessing the well-being of cancer patients. Traditionally, researchers have focused on areas such as physical, social, and emotional functioning. However, there is a potential for spirituality to have a large impact on quality of life in patients with cancer. The current study was conducted to investigate the relationship between spirituality and boredom, constraint, social contact, and depression.Methods: A total of 100 oncology patients completed several assessment instruments, including the Purposelessness, Under-stimulation, and Boredom (PUB) Scale, Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Scale–Anemia, Brief Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (BZSDS), Cancer Behavior Inventory, Systems of Belief Inventory, and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status Scale.Results: The average age of the sample was 62.37 years (SD = 13.43) and was comprised of 60 women (60%) and 40 men (40%). A regression analysis conducted to explore the impact of the variables on quality of life found only the BZSDS (R2Δ = .650, F = 180.392, p < .001) and the PUB Scale (R2Δ = .077, F = 26.885, p < .001) were significant predictors of quality of life. Another set of regression analyses were conducted to explore whether spirituality had a mediating effect on this relationship, but the mediated model was not supported.Significance of results: We conclude that spirituality and boredom are difficult concepts to define, operationalize, and measure, but crucial to our understanding of quality of life in advanced cancer. More research is needed to clarify the nature of the interrelationships between these important concepts.


2021 ◽  
pp. 107815522199844
Author(s):  
Abdullah M Alhammad ◽  
Nora Alkhudair ◽  
Rawan Alzaidi ◽  
Latifa S Almosabhi ◽  
Mohammad H Aljawadi

Introduction Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting is a serious complication of cancer treatment that compromises patients’ quality of life and treatment adherence, which necessitates regular assessment. Therefore, there is a need to assess patient-reported nausea and vomiting using a validated scale among Arabic speaking cancer patient population. The objective of this study was to translate and validate the Functional Living Index-Emesis (FLIE) instrument in Arabic, a patient-reported outcome measure designed to assess the influence of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting on patients’ quality of life. Methods Linguistic validation of an Arabic-language version was performed. The instrument was administered to cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy in a tertiary hospital's cancer center in Saudi Arabia. Results One-hundred cancer patients who received chemotherapy were enrolled. The participants’ mean age was 53.3 ± 14.9 years, and 50% were female. Half of the participants had a history of nausea and vomiting with previous chemotherapy. The Cronbach coefficient alpha for the FLIE was 0.9606 and 0.9736 for nausea and vomiting domains, respectively, which indicated an excellent reliability for the Arabic FLIE. The mean FLIE score was 110.9 ± 23.5, indicating no or minimal impact on daily life (NIDL). Conclusions The Arabic FLIE is a valid and reliable tool among the Arabic-speaking cancer population. Thus, the Arabic version of the FLIE will be a useful tool to assess the quality of life among Arabic speaking patients receiving chemotherapy. Additionally, the translated instrument will be a useful tool for future research studies to explore new antiemetic treatments among cancer patients.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Carrasco Pro ◽  
Katia Bulekova ◽  
Brian Gregor ◽  
Adam Labadorf ◽  
Juan Ignacio Fuxman Bass

Abstract Single nucleotide variants (SNVs) located in transcriptional regulatory regions can result in gene expression changes that lead to adaptive or detrimental phenotypic outcomes. Here, we predict gain or loss of binding sites for 741 transcription factors (TFs) across the human genome. We calculated ‘gainability’ and ‘disruptability’ scores for each TF that represent the likelihood of binding sites being created or disrupted, respectively. We found that functional cis-eQTL SNVs are more likely to alter TF binding sites than rare SNVs in the human population. In addition, we show that cancer somatic mutations have different effects on TF binding sites from different TF families on a cancer-type basis. Finally, we discuss the relationship between these results and cancer mutational signatures. Altogether, we provide a blueprint to study the impact of SNVs derived from genetic variation or disease association on TF binding to gene regulatory regions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. 6581-6581
Author(s):  
Alexander Qian ◽  
Edmund Qiao ◽  
Vinit Nalawade ◽  
Nikhil V. Kotha ◽  
Rohith S. Voora ◽  
...  

6581 Background: Hospital readmission are associated with unfavorable patient outcomes and increased costs to the healthcare system. Devising interventions to reduce risks of readmission requires understanding patients at highest risk. Cancer patients represent a unique population with distinct risk factors. The purpose of this study was to define the impact of a cancer diagnosis on the risks of unplanned 30-day readmissions. Methods: We identified non-procedural hospital admissions between January through November 2017 from the National Readmission Database (NRD). We included patients with and without a cancer diagnosis who were admitted for non-procedural causes. We evaluated the impact of cancer on the risk of 30-day unplanned readmissions using multivariable mixed-effects logistic regression models. Results: Out of 18,996,625 weighted admissions, 1,685,099 (8.9%) had record of a cancer diagnosis. A cancer diagnosis was associated with an increased risk of readmission compared to non-cancer patients (23.5% vs. 13.6%, p < 0.001). However, among readmissions, cancer patients were less likely to have a preventable readmission (6.5% vs. 12.1%, p < 0.001). When considering the 10 most common causes of initial hospitalization, cancer was associated with an increased risk of readmission for each of these 10 causes (OR range 1.1-2.7, all p < 0.05) compared to non-cancer patients admitted for the same causes. Compared to patients aged 45-64, a younger age was associated with increased risk for cancer patients (OR 1.29, 95%CI [1.24-1.34]) but decreased risk for non-cancer patients (OR 0.65, 95%CI [0.64-0.66]). Among cancer patients, cancer site was the most robust individual predictor for readmission with liver (OR 1.47, 95%CI [1.39-1.55]), pancreas (OR 1.36, 95%CI [1.29-1.44]), and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (OR 1.35, 95%CI [1.29-1.42]) having the highest risk compared to the reference group of prostate cancer patients. Conclusions: Cancer patients have a higher risk of 30-day readmission, with increased risks among younger cancer patients, and with individual risks varying by cancer type. Future risk stratification approaches should consider cancer patients as an independent group with unique risks of readmission.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yishu Qi ◽  
Ning Zhang ◽  
Ye Ma ◽  
Ewen Xu ◽  
Qingmei Huang ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction: Identifying the pattern of change in symptoms is critical to effective symptom management. This study aimed to determine the trajectory of Main Chemotherapy-related Symptoms (MCRS) in breast cancer patients, explore the influencing factors of potential categories of MCRS trajectory.Methods: Patient-reported Outcomes Measurement System- breast-chemotherapy was used to measure the four highest incidence MCRS (pain, fatigue, anxiety, and depression) weekly in Breast cancer patients. The Growth Mixture Model (GMM) was used to fit the potential categories of the MCRS trajectory. Logistic regression was used to explore the influencing factors of potential categories of MCRS change trajectory.Results: 239 breast cancer patients completed the study. Fatigue and depression showed an overall upward trend during the chemotherapy cycle, while pain and anxiety showed a downward trend. There are two potential categories of anxiety trajectory, three potential categories of fatigue and pain trajectory, and four potential categories of depression trajectory. Compared with the mild-fatigue group, Patients in the moderate and high fatigue groups were more likely to be less educated, have lower household income, and be treated with anthracyclines. Compared with the mild-pain group, patients in the pain-declining and fluctuating-pain groups were young, live-alone, and treated with paclitaxel. Patients in the anxiety-rising group were younger, had premenopausal menstruation with regular monthly menstruation, and had stage II disease. Patients in the depression-rising and severe depression groups were more likely to be solitary and younger.Conclusion: The potential classes of major chemotherapy-related symptom trajectories vary in breast cancer patients. As for fatigue management, great attention should be paid to patients with low education, low family income, and anthracycline chemotherapy. For pain management, close attention should be paid to younger, solitary, and paclitaxel chemotherapy patients; For anxiety management, attention should be paid to younger patients with premenopausal menstruation and regular monthly menstruation patients, and those with stage II disease. In managing depression, attention should be paid to younger and solitary patients.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petra Huehnchen ◽  
Antonia van Kampen ◽  
Wolfgang Boehmerle ◽  
Matthias Endres

Abstract Background Neurotoxicity is a frequent side effect of cytotoxic chemotherapy and affects a large number of patients. Despite the high medical need, few research efforts have addressed the impact of cytotoxic agents on cognition (ie, postchemotherapy cognitive impairment; PCCI). One unsolved question is whether individual cytotoxic drugs have differential effects on cognition. We thus examine the current state of research regarding PCCI. Neurological symptoms after targeted therapies and immunotherapies are not part of this review. Methods A literature search was conducted in the PubMed database, and 1215 articles were reviewed for predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Thirty articles were included in the systematic review. Results Twenty-five of the included studies report significant cognitive impairment. Of these, 21 studies investigated patients with breast cancer. Patients mainly received combinations of 5-fluorouracil, epirubicin, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and taxanes (FEC/FEC-T). Five studies found no significant cognitive impairment in chemotherapy patients. Of these, 2 studies investigated patients with colon cancer receiving 5-fluorouracil and oxaliplatin (FOLFOX). Independent risk factors for PCCI were patient age, mood alterations, cognitive reserve, and the presence of apolipoprotein E e4 alleles. Conclusions There is evidence that certain chemotherapy regimens cause PCCI more frequently than others as evidenced by 21 out of 23 studies in breast cancer patients (mainly FEC-T), whereas 2 out of 3 studies with colon cancer patients (FOLFOX) did not observe significant changes. Further studies are needed defining patient cohorts by treatment protocol in addition to cancer type to elucidate the effects of individual cytotoxic drugs on cognitive functions.


Neurosurgery ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 66 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa LoPresti ◽  
Iwen Pan ◽  
Dave Clarke ◽  
Sandi Lam

Abstract INTRODUCTION Pediatric refractory epilepsy affects quality of life, clinical disability, and healthcare costs for patients and families. We aimed to show the impact of surgical treatment for pediatric epilepsy on healthcare utilization compared to medically treated pediatric epilepsy over 5 yr. METHODS The Pediatric Health Information System database was used to study hospitalized children with epilepsy using five published algorithms. Refractory epilepsy (RE) patients treated with either antiepileptic medications (AEDs) only or AEDs plus epilepsy surgery (ES) between 1/1/2008 and 12/31/2014 were included. Patients with a history of ES before 1/1/2008 or a vagus nerve stimulation implantation surgery were excluded. ICD-9-CM codes were used to identify ES. Healthcare utilization following the index date at 2- and 5-yr including inpatient, emergency department (ED), and all epilepsy-related visits were evaluated. The propensity scores (PS) method was used to match surgically and medically treated patients. Covariates associated with the probability of receiving surgical treatment were chosen in the logistic regression model for calculating PS. SAS 9.4 and Stata 14.0 were used for data management and statistical analysis. RESULTS A total of 2106 (17.1%) and 10186 (82.9%) were surgically and medically treated, respectively. A total of 4050 matched cases, 2025 per each treated group, were included. Overall survival rates of matched cases were 98.07% and 99.58% at 2-yr and 96.66% and 98.99% at 5-yr for medically and surgically treated patients, respectively. Within 5-yr follow-up, seizure-associated healthcare utilization was lower for the surgically treated group: number of inpatient visits were 3.9 vs 2.5 and ED visits were 3.2 vs 1.7 for medically and surgically treated patients, respectively. The number of AEDs at 1-yr follow-up was significantly lower for the surgically treated group (3.22 decreased to 2.59: surgical group, 3.24 decreased to 3.06: medical group). CONCLUSION We found a significant decrease in inpatient and ED visits and number of antiepileptic drug prescriptions, as well as higher survival rates, at 2- and 5-yr follow-up in the surgically treated group compared to the medically treated group for pediatric patients with refractory epilepsy. Pediatric epilepsy surgery can provide beneficial outcomes, favorable long-term effectiveness, and reduced healthcare utilization compared to medical management.


2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 74-74
Author(s):  
Olexiy Aseyev ◽  
Nina Gosh ◽  
Jeffrey Allen Sulpher ◽  
Christopher Johnson ◽  
Ellamae Stadnick ◽  
...  

74 Background: Cardiac disease in individuals with cancer is common, impacts survival, the ability to tolerate cancer treatments and quality of life. Cardio-oncology is a novel interdisciplinary approach to the management of cancer patients with treatment-induced cardiotoxicity. The goal of our program is two-fold: a) establishment of a hospital based cardio-oncology clinic to rapidly assess and manage cancer patients with cardiotoxicity related to their cancer treatment and b) provide continuum of care for these patients with the establishment of a cardiovascular survivorship program. Methods: In 2008, in collaboration with oncologists, cardiologists, pharmacy and nursing we established a multidisciplinary cardio-oncology clinic at The Ottawa Hospital. Referrals are primarily form treating oncologists. The clinics take place 3-4 half days per month and are conducted by 3 dedicated cardiologists. Patient data including demographics, cancer type and treatment, cardiovascular risk factors, treatment and clinical outcomes of each patient are being collected. Results: We have seen over 800 patients with solid and hematological malignancies. Clinical outcomes of patients referred from 10/2008 to 01/2013 have previously been reported (Sulpher J. et al 2014). The majority of patients referred were able to successfully complete their cancer therapy (79.7%), reflective of the large breast cancer population seen in this clinic. A third of patients achieved stable left ventricular ejection fractions with cardiac intervention and 41% received cardiac medications. Overall survival and long term cardiac outcomes will be reported. Conclusions: While these initial results are encouraging the impact of cardiotoxicity experienced by cancer patients and long term cardiac outcomes are unknown. In an effort to improve the cardiovascular care of cancer survivors we are currently developing a Cardiovascular Survivorship Program; patients will be referred from our hospital based cardio-oncology clinic to a specialized community clinic, for long-term surveillance and optimization of cardiovascular health. This initiative represents a continuum of care from hospital to community and is the first such program in Canada.


2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (27_suppl) ◽  
pp. 166-166
Author(s):  
Catherine R. Fedorenko ◽  
Laura Elizabeth Panattoni ◽  
Qin Sun ◽  
Li Li ◽  
Karma L. Kreizenbeck ◽  
...  

166 Background: Rural residents are diagnosed at later stages of cancer compared to urban residents, have poorer survival, and face distinct barriers to receiving quality cancer care. ASCO has developed policy initiatives to address rural cancer care; however, little is known about quality of cancer care among patients residing in rural areas. This study examined the impact of rurality on performance metrics, controlling for socioeconomic status and insurance type. Methods: We linked Washington state cancer registry records from 2015-2017 with claims records for two large commercial insurers, Medicare, and Medicaid. Using claims from this database, we generated eight nationally recognized quality measures. Rurality was measured by the Rural-Urban Commuting Area Codes (RUCAs) categorized into 4 levels (Metro, Metro with commute, Micropolitan, Small Town/Rural). Process and outcome measures were adjusted for age, sex, race, comorbidity score, stage, cancer type, marital status, the Area Deprivation Index, and treatment factors where appropriate. Results were stratified by payer type. Results: The table below lists the effect of a patient’s rurality on the quality metric where significant (p<0.05). Where rurality did not impact the performance measure, results are left blank. Conclusions: After controlling for socioeconomic status and payer type, quality of cancer care for rural cancer patients was not consistently poorer compared to urban patients. These results suggest that lower survival among rural patients may be due to factors beyond quality of care.[Table: see text]


2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. 7005-7005
Author(s):  
Andrea Catherine Enzinger ◽  
Kaushik Ghosh ◽  
Nancy Lynn Keating ◽  
David M Cutler ◽  
Mary Beth Landrum ◽  
...  

7005 Background: Heightened US opioid regulations may limit advanced cancer patients’ access to effective pain management, particularly for racial/ethnic minority and other vulnerable populations. We examined trends in opioid access, disparities in access, and pain-related emergency department (ED) visits among cancer patients near end of life (EOL). Methods: Using a 20% random sample of Medicare FFS beneficiaries, we identified 243,124 patients with poor prognosis cancers who died between 2007-2016. We examined trends in outpatient opioid prescription fills and pain-related ED visits near EOL (30 days prior to death or hospice enrollment), for the overall cohort and by race (white, black, other). Per-capita opioid supply by state was obtained from the federal Drug Enforcement Agency ARCOS database. Geographic fixed-effects models examined predictors of opioid use near EOL, opioid dose in morphine milligram equivalents (MMEs), and pain-related ED visits, adjusted for patient demographic and clinical characteristics, state, opioid supply, and year. Results: From 2007-2016 the proportion of patients with poor prognosis cancers filling an opioid prescription near EOL fell from 41.7% to 35.7%, with greater decrements among blacks (39.3% to 29.8%) than whites (42.2% to 36.5%) and other races (38.2% to 32.4%). The proportion of patients receiving long-acting opioids near EOL fell from 17% to 12% overall (15% to 9% among blacks). Among patients receiving EOL opioids, the median daily dose fell from 40MMEs (IQR 16.5-98.0) to 30MMEs (IQR 15.0–78.8). In adjusted analyses, blacks were less likely than whites to receive EOL opioids (AOR 0.85; 95% CI, 0.80 to 0.91) and on average received 10MMEs less per day (b -9.9; 95% CI -15.7 to -4.2). Patients of other race were also less likely to receive EOL opioids (AOR 0.92; 95% CI, 0.85-0.95), although their dose did not differ significantly from whites. Rates of pain-related ED visits near EOL increased from 13.2% to 18.8% over the study period. In adjusted analyses, blacks were more likely than whites to have pain-related ED visits (AOR 1.29, 95% CI, 1.16-1.37) near death, as were those of other races (AOR 1.30; 95% CI, 1.17-1.37). Conclusions: While lawmakers have sought to mitigate the impact of opioid regulations upon cancer patients, access to EOL opioids have decreased substantially over time with concomitant increases in pain-related ED visits. There are significant racial/ethnic disparities in opioid access, with blacks receiving fewer opioids at lower doses and having more ED-based care for pain near EOL.


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