Real-world treatment patterns and medical costs of prostate cancer patients in Switzerland - A claims data analysis.

BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer (PC) is the most prevalent cancer in men in Switzerland. However, evidence on the real-world health care use of PC patients is scarce. The aim of this study is to describe health care utilization, treatment patterns, and medical costs in PC patients over a period of five years (2014-2018). METHOD: We used routinely collected longitudinal individual-level claims data from a major provider of mandatory health insurance in Switzerland. Due to the lack of diagnostic coding in the claims data, we identified treated PC patients based on the treatments received. We described health care utilization and treatment pathways for patients with localized and metastatic PC. Costs were calculated from a health care system perspective. RESULTS: A total of 5591 PC patients met the inclusion criteria. Between 2014 and 2018, 1741 patients had outpatient radiotherapy for localized or metastatic PC and 1579 patients underwent radical prostatectomy. 3502 patients had an androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). 9.5% of these patients had a combination therapy with docetaxel, and 11.0% had a combination with abiraterone acetate. Docetaxel was the most commonly used chemotherapy (first-line; n = 413, 78.4% of all patients in chemotherapy). Total medical costs of PC in Switzerland were estimated at CHF 347 m (95% CI 323-372) in 2018. CONCLUSION: Most PC patients in this study were identified based on the use of ADT. Medical costs of PC in Switzerland amounted to 0.45% of total health care spending in 2018. Treatment of metastatic PC accounted for about two thirds of spending.

Peri-operative morbidity and changes in symptom scores after transurethral prostatectomy in Switzerland: results of an independent assessment of outcome.

OBJECTIVES: To assess, in a prospective study, the contemporary outcome of transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in Switzerland, by evaluating peri-operative morbidity and changes in lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between January 2000 and January 2005, 11 hospitals in Switzerland participated in the study. The hospitals were required to inform Verein Outcome (VO), an independent institution specialising in outcome measurements in the Swiss healthcare system, about patients with BPH who were scheduled for TURP. Later, the hospitals provided data on peri-operative complications in these patients. The patients' Danish Prostate Symptom Score (DAN-PSS) was obtained by VO before and 4 months after TURP (via mailed questionnaires). RESULTS: Data on peri-operative complications from 1014 patients were included in this analysis. The mean (range) age of the patients was 69 (43-91) years. The most common complication after TURP was urinary retention, in 4.5% of the patients; the overall peri-operative complication rate was 9%. In all, 468 patients returned questionnaires both before and after TURP. The mean total DAN-PSS before and 4 months after surgery was 25.2 and 6.2, respectively (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this prospective multicentre study showed that the current peri-operative morbidity of TURP is lower than that reported from older large-scale trials. The independent assessment of symptom scores confirms that TURP is highly effective in alleviating bothersome LUTS due to BPH.