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PURPOSE: Having a mental illness increases risk of mortality for women with breast cancer, partly due to barriers to accessing recommended care (e.g., cancer screening). Early detection is one important factor in breast cancer survival. To further understand this disparity in survival, we examined whether older women with mental illness are more likely to be diagnosed with later-staged breast cancers compared to women without mental illnesses. METHODS: We used 2005-2015 SEER-Medicare data to identify AJCC stage I-IV breast cancer patients with and without a history of mental illness prior to cancer diagnosis. We used generalized ordinal regression to examine associations between mental illness diagnoses and stage at diagnosis, controlling for age, race/ethnicity, income, comorbidities, primary care use, rurality, and marital status. RESULTS: Among 96,034 women with breast cancer, 1.7% have a serious mental illness (SMI), 19.9% depression or anxiety, and 7.0% other mental illness. Those with SMI have 40% higher odds of being diagnosed with AJCC Stages II, III than Stage I; women with depression/anxiety have 25% lower odds of being diagnosed with Stage IV cancer than Stage I; and women with other mental illnesses have similar odds of being diagnosed in later stages. CONCLUSION: Women with SMI have higher odds of being diagnosed at later stages, which likely contributes to higher mortality after breast cancer. Surprisingly, women with depression and anxiety have a lower risk of being diagnosed with Stage IV cancer. Earlier breast cancer diagnosis in women with SMI is an important goal for reducing disparities breast cancer survival.
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Neoplasias da Mama , Transtornos Mentais , Idoso , Humanos , Feminino , Estados Unidos/epidemiologia , Neoplasias da Mama/complicações , Neoplasias da Mama/diagnóstico , Neoplasias da Mama/epidemiologia , Medicare , Transtornos Mentais/complicações , Transtornos Mentais/diagnóstico , Transtornos Mentais/epidemiologia , Comorbidade , AnsiedadeRESUMO
PURPOSE: No single pharmacy in an urban zip code is consistently the least expensive across medications. If medication prices change differently across pharmacies, patients and clinicians will face challenges accessing affordable medications when refilling medications. This is especially pertinent to people with cancer with multiple fills of supportive care medications over time. We evaluated if the lowest-priced pharmacy for a formulation remains the lowest-priced over time. METHODS: We compiled generic medications used to manage nausea/vomiting (14 formulations) and anorexia/cachexia (12 formulations). We extracted discounted prices in October 2021 and again in March 2022 for a typical fill at 8 pharmacies in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA (zip code 55,414) using GoodRx.com. We examined how prices changed across formulations and pharmacies over time. RESULTS: Data were available for all 208 possible pharmacy-formulation combinations (8 pharmacies × 26 formulations). For 172 (83%) of the 208 pharmacy-formulation combinations, the March 2022 price was within 20% of the October 2021 price. Across pharmacy-formulation combinations, the price change over time ranged from - 76 to + 292%. For 12 (46%) of the 26 formulations, at least one pharmacy with the lowest price in October 2021 no longer was the least costly in March 2022. For one formulation (dronabinol tablets), the least expensive pharmacy became the most expensive, with an absolute and relative price increase of a fill of $22 and 85%. CONCLUSION: For almost half of formulations studied, at least one pharmacy with the lowest price was no longer the least costly a few months later. The lowest price for a formulation (across pharmacies) could also change considerably. Thus, even if a patient accesses the least expensive pharmacy for a medication, they may need to re-check prices across all pharmacies with each subsequent fill to access the lowest prices. In addition to safety concerns, directing medications to and accessing medications at multiple pharmacies can add time and logistic toxicity to patients with cancer, their care partners, prescribers, and pharmacy teams.
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Neoplasias , Farmácias , Farmácia , Humanos , Medicamentos Genéricos , Custos e Análise de Custo , Neoplasias/tratamento farmacológicoRESUMO
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This study aims to assess the current state of cardio-oncology in reference to advocacy efforts, access to care, and perspective of stakeholders in their ability to provide patient care as well as development of "across the aisle" synergy among cardiologists and oncologists and academic and non-academic centers in various worldwide locations. RECENT FINDINGS: During the last decade, there has been a significant and diverse growth in cardio-oncology. We reviewed the experience from cardiologists and oncologists across different healthcare systems, the global trends, the role of collaborative networks, and the importance of advocacy efforts. Cardio-oncology will continue to grow, but there is an unmet need to increase awareness, improve education, and expand access to care to larger segments of the cancer population in order to have a more significant impact on their health. The growing collaboration through professional societies and collaborative networks provides an opportunity to advance the cardiovascular care of cancer patients to meet the projected needs in a growing and more diverse population.
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Cardiologia , Colaboração Intersetorial , Oncologia , Cardiologia/economia , Cardiologia/educação , Doenças Cardiovasculares/complicações , Acessibilidade aos Serviços de Saúde , Humanos , Oncologia/economia , Oncologia/educação , Neoplasias/complicações , Defesa do Paciente , Mídias SociaisRESUMO
For the past 30 years, the University of Minnesota's Cancer Survivorship Program has been dedicated to providing exceptional care to patients who have lived the cancer experience. Our model is consultative, risk-stratified, and oncologist-led but executed predominately by advanced practice providers. Care is personalized and serves three survivor populations: children, adults, and patients who received BMT with over 500 new patients evaluated annually. As guidelines and survivorship standards have changed, our clinical programs have evolved from a focus on survivorship care plans to supportive care. The program offers a wide range of supportive services from acupuncture to nutritional services as well as several educational programs for patients. The program has a strong research legacy, notably as the birthplace of research that led to the Children's Oncology Group Guidelines as well as advancements in cardio-oncology and frailty after bone marrow transplantation. In 2021, we hosted the first annual Survivorship Research Forum, providing the opportunity and space for experts across disciplines to exchange ideas on a broad range of survivorship topics not possible at other national cancer-related conferences. With successes and challenges, we have identified opportunities for growth as our program continues to evolve and grow in our goal to improve cancer outcomes along a wide spectrum of physical, emotional, functional, and social dimensions. IMPLICATIONS FOR CANCER SURVIVORS: The University of Minnesota Cancer Survivorship Program provides care, education, and research opportunities for patients across the cancer continuum.
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Sobreviventes de Câncer , Neoplasias , Adulto , Criança , Humanos , Sobrevivência , Sobreviventes de Câncer/psicologia , Sobreviventes , Neoplasias/terapia , EscolaridadeRESUMO
PURPOSE: Health care contact days-days spent receiving health care outside the home-represent an intuitive, practical, and person-centered measure of time consumed by health care. METHODS: We linked 2019 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey and traditional Medicare claims data for community-dwelling older adults with a history of cancer. We identified contact days (ie, spent in a hospital, emergency department, skilled nursing facility, or inpatient hospice or receiving ambulatory care including an office visit, procedure, treatment, imaging, or test) and described patterns of total and ambulatory contact days. Using weighted Poisson regression models, we identified factors associated with contact days. RESULTS: We included 1,168 older adults representing 4.51 million cancer survivors (median age, 76.4 years, 52.8% women). The median (IQR) time from cancer diagnosis was 65 (27-126) months. In 2019, these adults had mean (standard deviation) total contact days of 28.4 (27.6) and ambulatory contact days of 24.2 (23.6). These included days for tests (8.0 [8.8]), imaging (3.6 [4.1]), visits with any clinicians (12.4 [11.5]), and visits with primary care clinicians (4.4 [4.7]), and nononcology specialists (7.1 [9.4]) specifically. Sixty-four percent of days with a nonvisit ambulatory service (eg, a test) were not on the same day as a clinician visit. Factors associated with more total contact days included younger age, lower income, more chronic conditions, poor self-rated health, and tendency to "go to doctor as soon as feel bad." CONCLUSION: Older adult cancer survivors spent nearly 1 month of the year receiving health care outside the home. This care was largely ambulatory, often delivered by nononcologists, and varied by factors beyond clinical characteristics. These results highlight the need to recognize patient burdens and improve survivorship care delivery, including through care coordination.
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Sobreviventes de Câncer , Humanos , Idoso , Feminino , Masculino , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Estados Unidos/epidemiologia , Medicare , Neoplasias/terapiaRESUMO
The mission of the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program's (NBCCEDP) mission is to improve access to mammography and other health services for underserved women. Since its inception in 1991, this national program has improved breast cancer screening rates for women who are uninsured and underinsured. However, the literature has shown that NBCCEDP screenings are decreasing, and only reach a portion of eligible women. Reliable estimates at the sub-county level are needed to identify and reach eligible women. Our work builds upon previous estimates by integrating uninsured and insurance status into spatially adaptive filters. We use spatially adaptive filters to create small area estimates of standardized incidence ratios describing the utilization rate of NBCCEDP services in Minnesota. We integrate the American Community Survey (2010-2014) insurance status data to account for the percentage that an individual is uninsured. We test five models that integrate insurance status by age, sex, and race/ethnicity. Our composite model, which adjusts for age, sex, and race/ethnicity insurance statuses, reduces 95% of the estimation error. We estimate that there approximately 49,913.7 women eligible to receive services for Minnesota. We also create small geography (i.e., county and sub-county) estimates for Minnesota. The integration of the insurance data improved our utilization estimate. The development of these methods will allow state programs to more efficiently use their resources and understand their reach.
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PURPOSE: To decrease the financial burden on people with cancer, clinicians and patients increasingly use medication price comparison websites to seek pharmacies where medications may be cheaper. Shopping around at different pharmacies can add additional time and logistic burden to patients and care partners. We sought to determine whether a single pharmacy consistently offered the lowest price for symptom control medications. METHODS: We compiled medications/formulations used to manage two common cancer-associated symptoms: nausea/vomiting and anorexia/cachexia. We extracted discounted, lowest price with coupon prices for a typical fill of these medications at nine pharmacies in Minneapolis, MN, using GoodRx. We compared prices across formulations and pharmacies to assess whether a pharmacy consistently offered the lowest price. RESULTS: We included 24 formulations for nausea/vomiting (14 generic and 10 brand-name) and 19 for anorexia/cachexia (12 generic and seven brand-name). Prices for brand-name formulations were similar across pharmacies, but prices of generic formulations varied widely across pharmacies. For example, the prices of a seven-unit fill of generic 5-mg olanzapine tablets ranged from $4 to $57 US dollars. No single pharmacy consistently offered the lowest price across the formulations studied. For example, for the 12 generic formulations for anorexia/cachexia, one pharmacy had the highest price for four formulations and the lowest price for two others. CONCLUSION: In this study of discounted medication prices, we found that no single pharmacy in an urban zip code consistently offered the lowest price for medications used to manage two common cancer-associated symptoms. Well-intentioned efforts to pursue the cheapest source of each medication by visiting multiple pharmacies may add extra time and logistic toxicity to patients and care partners. This approach can increase redundant scripts and expose patients to medication-related adverse events.
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Neoplasias , Farmácias , Farmácia , Anorexia , Caquexia , Medicamentos Genéricos/uso terapêutico , Humanos , Náusea , Neoplasias/complicações , Neoplasias/tratamento farmacológico , VômitoRESUMO
â¢Childhood cancer survivors are at higher risk for the development of breast cancer necessitating early breast cancer screening, often with both breast MRI and mammography.â¢Risk-stratify breast cancer treatment, taking into account prior radiation fields, surgical procedures, use of anthracyclines, and current comorbidities is essential.â¢Aggressive management of CV risk factors in collaboration with cardiologists, oncologists, primary care providers, and allied health care providers is needed to provide the best cancer treatment while optimizing CV health.
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Study objective: Cancer and heart disease are leading causes of mortality, and cardio-oncology is emerging as a new field addressing the cardiovascular toxicities related to cancer and cancer therapy. Interdisciplinary research platforms that incorporate digital health to optimize cardiovascular health and wellness in cancer survivors are therefore needed as we advance in the digital era. Our goal was to develop the Connected Health Innovation Research Program (C.H.I.R.P.) to serve as a foundation for future integration and assessments of adoption and clinical efficacy of digital health tools for cardiovascular health and wellness in the general population and in oncology patients. Design/setting/participants: Partner companies were identified through the American Medical Association innovation platform, as well as LinkedIn and direct contact by our team. Company leaders met with our team to discuss features of their technology or software. Non-disclosure agreements were signed and data were discussed and obtained for descriptive or statistical analysis. Results: A suite of companies with technologies focused on wellness, biometrics tracking, audio companions, oxygen saturation, weight trends, sleep patterns, heart rate variability, electrocardiogram patterns, blood pressure patterns, real-time metabolism tracking, instructional video modules, or integration of these technologies into electronic health records was collated. We formed an interdisciplinary research team and established an academia-industry collaborative foundation for connecting patients with wellness digital health technologies. Conclusions: A suite of software and device technologies accessible to the cardiology and oncology population has been established and will facilitate retrospective, prospective, and case research studies assessing adoption and clinical efficacy of digital health tools in cardiology/oncology.
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PURPOSE: The financial toxicity of anticancer drugs is well-documented, but little is known about the costs of drugs used to manage cancer-associated symptoms. METHODS: We reviewed relevant guidelines and compiled drugs used to manage seven cancer-associated symptoms (anorexia and cachexia, chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, constipation, diarrhea, exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, cancer-associated fatigue, and chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting). Using GoodRx website, we identified the retail price (cash price at retail pharmacies) and lowest price (discounted, best-case scenario of out-of-pocket costs) for patients without insurance for each drug or formulation for a typical fill. We describe lowest prices here. RESULTS: For anorexia and cachexia, costs ranged from $5 US dollars (USD; generic olanzapine or mirtazapine tablets) to $1,156 USD (brand-name dronabinol solution) and varied widely by formulation of the same drug or dosage: for olanzapine 5 mg, $5 USD (generic tablet) to $239 USD (brand-name orally disintegrating tablet). For chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, costs of duloxetine varied from $12 USD (generic) to $529 USD (brand-name). For constipation, the cost of sennosides or polyethylene glycol was <$15 USD, whereas newer agents such as methylnaltrexone were expensive ($1,001 USD). For diarrhea, the cost of generic loperamide or diphenoxylate-atropine tablets was <$15 USD. For exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, only brand-name formulations were available, range of cost, $1,072 USD-$1,514 USD. For cancer-associated fatigue, the cost of generic dexamethasone or dexmethylphenidate was <$15 USD, whereas brand-name modafinil was more costly ($1,284 USD). For a 4-drug nausea and vomiting prophylaxis regimen, costs ranged from $181 USD to $1,430 USD. CONCLUSION: We highlight the high costs of many symptom control drugs and the wide variation in the costs of these drugs. These findings can guide patient-clinician discussions about cost-effectively managing symptoms, while promoting the use of less expensive formulations when possible.
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Antineoplásicos , Neoplasias , Antineoplásicos/economia , Antineoplásicos/uso terapêutico , Custos de Medicamentos , Medicamentos Genéricos/economia , Estresse Financeiro , Humanos , Neoplasias/tratamento farmacológico , FarmáciasRESUMO
Myeloid sarcoma (MS) is a rare disease entity identified as a variety of manifestations defined by the occurrence of extramedullary myeloid cell masses with or without bone marrow involvement. This case describes an unusual presentation of isolated MS in a 60-year-old otherwise healthy male, who initially presented to his primary care physician with vague abdominal pain. After extensive workup including three omental biopsies, umbilical core biopsy, and inguinal lymph node biopsy, he was ultimately diagnosed with isolated MS with extensive extramedullary tumor burden. Despite advanced extramedullary disease, peripheral cell counts were normal and bilateral bone marrow biopsies unremarkable with normal cellular lineages, morphology, and cytogenetics. The patient underwent induction chemotherapy and is now greater than 100 days post myeloablative unrelated donor marrow transplantation with no evidence of disease recurrence and 100% donor status with full chimerism. This case demonstrates that making a prompt diagnosis with rapid initiation of treatment in myeloid sarcoma can be challenging due to its varied clinical presentation, cytomorphology, cytochemistry, and cytogenetic overlap with other lymphoid malignancies. Once a diagnosis of MS has been made, moving quickly to induction therapy is important. Several studies have shown that improved overall survival is attained when MS is treated as acute myeloid leukemia and increased survival is noted for patients undergoing bone marrow transplantation. Further prospective studies are needed to elucidate the many remaining questions in regards to the natural history, prognosis, and optimal treatment strategies for this deadly disease.