Nationwide trends in hospitalization, medical costs, and mortality for asthma after introduction of biologics: A cross-sectional study in the United States.

BACKGROUND: Asthma is the most common inflammatory lung disease in the United States. Since 2015, biologic therapies have provided targeted treatment for patients with severe asthma. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the trends for in-hospital outcomes of asthma before (2012-2014) and after (2016-2018) the introduction of biologic therapies for asthma. METHODS: We conducted a nationwide cross-sectional analysis of patients aged 2 years or older who were hospitalized for asthma between 2012 and 2018 using data from the Nationwide Readmissions Database. Outcomes included rates of asthma hospital admission and asthma-related 30-day readmission, hospital length of stay, hospital costs, and inpatient mortality. Generalized linear models assessed trends in rates of asthma admission and readmission, length of stay, costs, and mortality quarterly during 2012-2014 and 2016-2018. RESULTS: Among 691,537 asthma-related admissions, quarterly asthma admission rates significantly decreased (-0.90%, 95% CI = -1.46% to - 0.34%; P = 0.002) during 2016-2018, mainly among adults, but not during 2012-2014. Quarterly assessed readmission rates decreased by 2.40% (-2.85% to -1.96%; P < 0.0001) during 2012-2014 and by 2.12% (-2.74% to - 1.50%; P < 0.0001) during 2016-2018. Mean length of stay for asthma admissions decreased quarterly by 0.44% (-0.49% to - 0.38%; P < 0.0001) during 2012-2014 and by 0.27% (-0.34% to - 0.20%; P < 0.0001) during 2016-2018. Quarterly hospital costs for admissions were unchanged during 2012-2014 but increased by 0.28% (0.21% to 0.35%; P < 0.0001) during 2016-2018. There were no significant trends in inpatient mortality during 2012-2014 and 2016-2018. CONCLUSIONS: After the introduction of new biologics for severe asthma in 2015, asthma-related hospital admissions decreased significantly, whereas hospital costs increased. Asthma-related 30-day readmission rates and length of stay for asthma admissions continuously decreased, whereas inpatient mortality rates remained stable. DISCLOSURES: This work was supported by the National Heart, Lung, And Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R01HL136945. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. The data that support the findings of this study are available from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project but restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for the current study, and so are not publicly available. Data are however available from the authors upon reasonable request and with permission of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project.

Adherence to Adjuvant Endocrine Therapy and Survival Among Older Women with Early-Stage Hormone Receptor-Positive Breast Cancer.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Although improving adherence to adjuvant endocrine therapies (AETs) is critical to ensure better patient outcomes, the evidence is still lacking on differences in 5-year AET adherence trajectories. This study aimed to estimate the time trend of adherence by the type of individual AET and the association of adherence to AETs with overall survival among older women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer. METHODS: This study used the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-Medicare database 2006-2016. We included women aged ≥ 65 years with newly diagnosed hormone receptor-positive breast cancer and who had initiated AET (anastrozole, letrozole, exemestane, or tamoxifen). Adherence to AETs was defined as the proportion of days covered that was calculated for the follow-up period (5 years). The overall survival time was defined as the time from the date of AET initiation to death. The linear mixed models with repeated measures were used to estimate the changes in adherence to AETs. The Cox proportional hazard model was used to assess the relationships (hazard ratio [HR] and 95% confidence interval [CI]) between adherence to AETs and death. RESULTS: A total of 11,617 patients were included. Anastrozole was the most commonly used (n = 6,908), followed by letrozole (n = 2,586), tamoxifen (n = 1,750), and exemestane (n = 373). The mean (standard deviation) of proportion of days covered for 5 years was 57.4 (34.6), indicating the highest proportion of days covered in the anastrozole group [61.1 (34.1)] and the lowest proportion of days covered in the exemestane group [44.0 (35.1)]. Overall, adherence to AET decreased over the 5-year follow-up period in all AET groups, but the decrease in the tamoxifen group was steeper (42.3% decreased) compared with other AETs. Anastrozole, letrozole, and exemestane groups were associated with a lower risk of death compared with the tamoxifen group (HR = 0.80, 95% CI 0.71-0.89 for anastrozole; HR = 0.82, 95% CI 0.72-0.93 for letrozole; HR = 0.82, 95% CI 0.63-1.07 for exemestane). CONCLUSIONS: Patients who initiated with tamoxifen had a steeper decrease in adherence over the 5 years compared with anastrozole, letrozole, and exemestane groups. Furthermore, higher adherence was associated with a decreased risk of mortality. Physicians should be cognizant of decreasing adherence over time and choose effective treatment options with minimal side-effect profiles to better support adherence by patients with breast cancer.

Association of congestive heart failure with hospital outcomes among renal cancer patients in the United States: analysis of nationwide inpatient sample.

Background: Patients with renal cancer are at increased risk of comorbid congestive heart failure (CHF) due to several shared risk factors and the cardiotoxicity of some medications used for renal cancer treatment. We aimed to examine the relationship between CHF and hospital outcomes among renal cancer patients in the U.S.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we identified hospitalizations of renal cancer patients using the 2015-2017 National Inpatient Sample. We assessed the relationship between CHF and hospital outcomes in this patient population, including in-hospital mortality, length-of-stay (LoS), and hospital costs.Results: Among the 20,321 hospitalizations of renal cancer patients identified, 6.1% involved patients with comorbid CHF (n = 1,231). The odds of in-hospital mortality did not differ based on CHF presence (odds ratio = 1.21; p = 0.354). Hospitalizations of renal cancer patients with CHF were associated with a greater LoS (incidence rate ratio = 1.44; p < 0.001) and higher hospital costs (cost ratio = 1.27; p < 0.001) than those without CHF.Conclusions: CHF in renal cancer patients is associated with increased LoS and higher hospital costs. These findings suggest that optimal management of comorbid CHF may improve hospital outcomes in patients with renal cancer and provides evidence to support the emerging field of cardio-oncology.

Comparison of Prostaglandin Analog Treatment Patterns in Glaucoma and Ocular Hypertension.

BACKGROUND: Prostaglandin analogs (PGAs) are considered an initial therapy to manage increased intraocular pressure (IOP) for patients with glaucoma. When the initial PGA treatment fails to lower IOP adequately, the patient may add or change medications or have surgery/laser treatment. OBJECTIVE: To compare medication adherence, duration of therapy, and treatment patterns among 3 PGAs-latanoprost, travoprost, and bimatoprost-as initial therapies for patients with glaucoma or ocular hypertension. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study using administrative claims data. The cohort consisted of patients newly diagnosed with glaucoma or ocular hypertension with at least 1 prescription claim for latanoprost, travoprost, or bimatoprost and enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan between 2007 and 2012. The 24-month medication possession ratio (MPR) was used to measure medication adherence. Discontinuation of first-line PGA therapy was defined as nonpersistence (90-day gap allowance) of the index PGA or a change in therapy during the 24-month follow-up period. Types of second-line therapy (i.e., switch, addition, and surgery) were identified. The 1:1:1 propensity score matching was used. RESULTS: Patients who met the inclusion criteria were propensity score matched, resulting in 1,296 patients per PGA group. Latanoprost users showed higher adherence (50.1%) than travoprost (48.8%) and bimatoprost (43.0%) users. The latanoprost and travoprost groups had significantly higher MPRs than bimatoprost (P < 0.0001). The latanoprost group showed significantly longer duration of first-line therapy (372 days) than the bimatoprost group (343 days; P = 0.003) but not the travoprost group (361 days). After controlling for demographic and clinical characteristics, a Cox proportional hazards model showed that the travoprost and bimatoprost groups had a higher risk of discontinuation of first-line therapy than the latanoprost group (P < 0.0001). The percentage of patients continuing on the index PGA without treatment pattern change (i.e., switches, additions, and surgery) was higher for latanoprost users (52.9%) compared with travoprost (39.0%) or bimatoprost users (42.1%; P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Patients who used latanoprost as their initial therapy were more likely to adhere and persist to the index PGA compared with bimatoprost users. The latanoprost group demonstrated a lower risk of discontinuing first-line therapy than the travoprost and bimatoprost groups. The results may assist ophthalmologists in determining the optimal management of this patient population with respect to treatment patterns. DISCLOSURES: No outside funding supported this study. All authors except Heo and Nair are employed by The University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy. Heo was with the Health Outcomes Division, The University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy during a portion of this study and is employed by Genesis Research. Nair is employed by Humana. The authors have no financial relationships relevant to this article to disclose. This study was presented as a poster at the 2016 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research Annual Meeting, May 2016, Washington, DC.

Prediction of Change in Prescription Ingredient Costs and Co-payment Rates under a Reference Pricing System in South Korea.

BACKGROUND: The reference pricing system (RPS) establishes reference prices within interchangeable reference groupings. For drugs priced higher than the reference point, patients pay the difference between the reference price and the total price. OBJECTIVES: To predict potential changes in prescription ingredient costs and co-payment rates after implementation of an RPS in South Korea. METHODS: Korean National Health Insurance claims data were used as a baseline to develop possible RPS models. Five components of a potential RPS policy were varied: reference groupings, reference pricing methods, co-pay reduction programs, manufacturer price reductions, and increased drug substitutions. The potential changes for prescription ingredient costs and co-payment rates were predicted for the various scenarios. RESULTS: It was predicted that transferring the difference (total price minus reference price) from the insurer to patients would reduce ingredient costs from 1.4% to 22.8% for the third-party payer (government), but patient co-payment rates would increase from a baseline of 20.4% to 22.0% using chemical groupings and to 25.0% using therapeutic groupings. Savings rates in prescription ingredient costs (government and patient combined) were predicted to range from 1.6% to 13.7% depending on various scenarios. Although the co-payment rate would increase, a 15% price reduction by manufacturers coupled with a substitution rate of 30% would result in a decrease in the co-payment amount (change in absolute dollars vs. change in rates). CONCLUSIONS: Our models predicted that the implementation of RPS in South Korea would lead to savings in ingredient costs for the third-party payer and co-payments for patients with potential scenarios.