Medicare beneficiary barriers to genetic counselor services: Implications for patient policy, decision-making, and care.

If passed, the "Access to Genetic Counselor Services Act" will authorize genetic counselors to provide services under Medicare part B. We assert that Medicare policy should be updated through the enactment of this legislation to provide Medicare beneficiaries with direct access to genetic counselor services. In this article, we discuss the background, history, and some recent research relevant to patient access to genetic counselors to provide context and perspective regarding the rationale, justification, and potential results of the proposed legislation. We outline the potential impact of Medicare policy reform, including the effect on access to genetic counselors in high-demand areas or underserved communities. Although the proposed legislation pertains only to Medicare, we argue that private systems will also be impacted by passage as this may lead to an increase in hiring and retention of genetic counselors by health systems, thereby improving access to genetic counselors across the US.

Inferring the patient's age from implicit age clues in health forum posts.

Broader patient-reported experiences in oncology are largely unknown due to the lack of available information from traditional data sources. Online health community data provide an exploratory way to uncover these experiences at a large scale. Analyzing these data can guide further studies towards understanding patients' needs and experiences. However, analysis of online health data is inherently difficult due to the unstructured nature of these data and the variety of ways information can be expressed over text. Specifically, subscribers may not disclose critical information such as the age of the patient in their posts. In fact, the number of health forum posts that explicitly mention the age of the patient is significantly lower than the number of posts that do not include this information in the Reddit r/Cancer health forum under consideration in the present paper. Health-focused studies often need to consider or control for age as a confounder, hence the importance of having sufficient age data. This paper presents a methodology that can help classify health forum posts according to four age groups (0-17, 18-39, 40-64 and 65 + years) even when the posts do not contain explicit mention of the age of the patient. First, the subset of the posts that include explicit mention of the age of the patient is identified. Second, the explicit age clues are removed from these posts and used to train the proposed age classifier. The resulting classifier is able to infer the age of the patient using only implicit age clues with an average true positive rate (TPR) of 71%. This TPR is comparable to the average TPR of 69% obtained from human annotations for the same set of posts.

Quantifying the diagnostic pathway for patients with cognitive impairment: real-world data from Australia.

OBJECTIVES: Rapid diagnosis of dementia is essential to ensure optimum patient care. This study used real-world data to quantify the dementia diagnostic pathway in Australia. DESIGN: A real-world, cross-sectional survey of physicians and patients. SETTING: Clinical practice. PARTICIPANTS: Primary care or specialist physicians managing patients with cognitive impairment (CI). MEASUREMENTS: Descriptive analyses focused on key events in the diagnostic pathway. Regression modeling compared the duration between first consultation and formal diagnosis with various factors. RESULTS: Data for 600 patients were provided by 60 physicians. Mean time from initial symptoms to first consultation was 6.1 ± 4.4 months; 20% of patients had moderate or severe CI at first consultation. Mean time from first consultation to formal diagnosis was 4.0 ± 7.4 months (1.2 ± 3.6 months if not referred to a secondary physician, and 5.3 ± 8.3 months if referred). Time from first consultation to diagnosis was significantly associated with CI severity at first consultation; time was shorter with more severe CI. There was no association of disease severity and referral to a secondary physician; 69.5% of patients were referred, the majority (57.1%) to a geriatrician. The highest proportion of patients were diagnosed by geriatricians (47.4%). Some form of test or scale was used to aid diagnosis in 98.8% of patients. CONCLUSIONS: A substantial number of Australians experience cognitive decline and behavioral changes some time before consulting a physician or being diagnosed with dementia. Increasing public awareness of the importance of early diagnosis is essential to improve the proportion of patients receiving comprehensive support prior to disease progression.

Costs of Severe Maternal Morbidity During Pregnancy in US Commercially Insured and Medicaid Populations: An Observational Study.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the maternity-related cost of health care services in women with and without severe maternal morbidity (SMM). METHODS: Women with a live inpatient birth in the calendar year 2013 were identified in the MarketScan® Commercial and Medicaid health insurance claims databases. Costs were defined as the amounts paid by insurers plus out-of-pocket and third-party payments. Costs were calculated as total maternity-related costs and categorized as prenatal, delivery, and postpartum costs. SMM was identified using the CDC algorithm of 25 ICD-9 diagnostic and procedural codes. Variables associated with higher delivery costs were determined by multivariable linear regression analysis. RESULTS: A total of 750 women met the criteria for SMM in the Commercial population. The total, per-patient mean costs of care for women without and with SMM were $14,840 and $20,380, respectively. Delivery hospitalization costs were 76-77% of total mean costs for women without and with SMM. A total of 99 women met the criteria for SMM in the Medicaid population. The total, per-patient mean costs of care for women without and with SMM were $6894 and $10,134, respectively. Delivery costs were 71-72% of total costs. Variables independently predictive of increased delivery costs in both Commercial and Medicaid populations were delivery by cesarean section, multifetal gestation, gestational hypertension/preeclampsia, and obstetric infection. CONCLUSIONS: The occurrence of SMM was associated with an increase in maternity-related costs of 37% in the Commercial and 47% in the Medicaid population. Some of the factors associated with increased delivery hospitalization costs may be prevented.

The Diagnostic Pathway From Cognitive Impairment to Dementia in Japan: Quantification Using Real-World Data.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to quantify the diagnostic pathway from cognitive impairment (CI) to dementia in Japan. METHODS: This was a real-world, cross-sectional survey of patients with CI and their physicians. RESULTS: Data for 1107 patients were provided by 106 physicians. Mean time from initial symptoms to the first consultation was 7.4±6.9 months; 42% of patients had moderate/severe CI at first consultation. Mean time from the first consultation to formal diagnosis was 2.9±11.0 months (1.9±8.8 mo if not referred to a secondary physician, and 5.1±14.6 mo if referred). Time from the first consultation to diagnosis was shorter with more severe CI at first consultation (P=0.0072). The highest proportion of patients were diagnosed by neurologists (45.8%). Tests or scales were used to aid diagnosis in 81.2% of patients. There was no association of disease severity and referral to a secondary physician; 30.9% of patients were referred, the majority (57.7%) to a neurologist. CONCLUSIONS: A substantial proportion of patients with dementia in Japan experience CI for some time before consulting a physician. Government policy to increase public understanding and awareness of dementia, and a proposed dementia screening system, should increase the proportion of individuals consulting physicians before disease progression.

Patient knowledge of STI testing in an urban clinic.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether patients attending an urban STI clinic can accurately identify the STIs for which they were tested. METHODS: Participants completed a self-administered survey assessing demographics, reason for visit, perceived STI testing performed, and patient satisfaction. Chart review was conducted for verification of STI testing. RESULTS: 40.7% of participants were able to correctly identify the STIs for which they had been tested. Education level greater than a high school diploma was significantly associated with a patient's ability to correctly identify tests performed. CONCLUSIONS: Patients presenting to STI clinics are generally unaware of which STI tests were done. Providers performing STI testing should inform patients of all tests performed, as well as common STIs for which they have not been tested.

Implementing the Concept of Continuous Clinical Response Into Clinical Practice for Ulcerative Colitis.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a complex and progressive disease that has a significant humanistic and economic impact in patients and the wider society. Disease control is still an unmet need for a large proportion of patients. The aim of this article was to review the current evidence to assess the feasibility, value, and impact of integrating continuous clinical response (CCR) as a patient-reported outcome into routine management of UC. METHODS: Literature searches in PubMed, Google Scholar, and conference proceedings were undertaken to retrieve the relevant articles regarding burden and course of disease, outcome measures in UC, tools for measuring disease activity, and models for patient's self-monitoring. RESULTS: The concept of CCR was first introduced during the PURSUIT-M trial, where evidence was provided to support the clinical and quality of life benefits of achieving CCR. However, patient monitoring as implemented during the trial was not feasible for its use in the real world. Thus, a simple self-reported score (eg, PRO2) to monitor CCR, with good correlation with more complex procedure-driven indices, was identified for its use in routine patient care. Feasibility of introducing this easy-to-use tool over time as an integral part of patient management was also explored. CONCLUSIONS: The introduction of CCR as a management goal for UC patients may pose the step change needed to improve disease course and patient's life. Providing patients with simple tools to continuously monitor their disease activity is the first step for an integrated self-monitoring model of care in UC.

Second-line treatment persistence and costs among patients with immune-mediated rheumatic diseases treated with subcutaneous TNF-alpha inhibitors.

The objective of this study was to describe treatment persistence with second-line subcutaneous tumor necrosis factor-alpha inhibitors (SC-TNFis) in patients with immune-mediated rheumatic diseases (IMRDs) in Sweden, and the impact of non-persistence on healthcare costs. This retrospective observational study was based on Swedish national health register data. Adults were identified through filled prescriptions for adalimumab (ADA), etanercept (ETA), certolizumab pegol (CZP) and golimumab (GLM). Persistence was estimated over 3 years for propensity score-matched (PSM) cohorts using non-parametric survival analysis. Unadjusted comparisons of costs comprised specialized outpatient care, inpatient care, and medication. In total, N = 845 patients were identified and three PSM cohorts were generated (GLM vs. ADA, ETA, and CZP, respectively). GLM exhibited higher persistence than ADA over the study period (p = 0.040), and numerically higher persistence than ETA and CZP for 36 and 30 months, respectively. Persistent and non-persistent patients had similar mean total cost at 12 month pre-treatment ($5185 vs. $5064, p = 0.750). During the 12 month post-treatment initiation, persistent patients had lower mean total costs ($4377 vs. $6605), corresponding to a cost difference of $2228 (p < 0.001). In second-line treatment with SC-TNFis for IMRDs in Sweden, GLM exhibited significantly higher persistence than ADA over the course of the study. Similarly, GLM showed numerically higher persistence than ETA and CZP, which is concurrent with results observed in first-line SC-TNFi treatment. Considering the lower healthcare costs for persistent patients, the choice of second-line SC-TNFi among eligible patients may merit careful consideration given its impact on patients and payers.

Burden of illness associated with non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis: a multiperspective European cross-sectional observational study.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the impact of non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis (nr-axSpA) on patients and society based on real-world evidence from the Adelphi nr-axSpA Disease Specific Programme, a cross-sectional survey of rheumatologists and their patients in Germany, France, Spain, Italy and the UK. METHODS: Physicians completed patient record forms for the next two patients consulting with nr-axSpA (diagnosis at the physician's judgement); patients were invited to complete a patient self-completion form. Outcomes were assessed in responders and non-responders and those treated with and without biological agents. RESULTS: In total, 631 patients were included. Fulfilment of classification criteria varied across countries. Assessment of SpondyloArthritis international Society classification criteria were most commonly met; other criteria, including Amor and European Spondyloarthropathy Study Group criteria, were applied less frequently. Most German and UK patients had their condition classified without formal criteria. Despite being diagnosed with nr-axSpA, 13% of patients met the criteria for ankylosing spondylitis. EuroQol 5-Dimensions (3L) utility scores were lower in patients with nr-axSpA versus general population matched controls (0.776 vs. 0.884; p<0.001); non-responders to treatment had impaired activity (as measured by the Work Productivity and Activity Impairment questionnaire) of 47.4% versus 33.3% in responders (p<0.001). Clinical outcomes were consistently better in biological-treated versus -naïve patients. Average pretreatment pain levels were 6.6 and 6.2, respectively (p=0.072) but reduced to 2.5 and 4.0, respectively (p<0.001) at the time of the survey. CONCLUSIONS: nr-axSpA was associated with a significant QoL and societal burden in this study of German, French, Spanish, Italian and UK patients. Treatment with biological agents was associated with improved QoL. Considerable variability in patients' clinical characteristics were observed across the countries studied and further education, aimed at improving awareness of the condition, may be needed.

Treatment persistence among patients with immune-mediated rheumatic disease newly treated with subcutaneous TNF-alpha inhibitors and costs associated with non-persistence.

The main objective of this study was to describe real-world treatment persistence with subcutaneous tumor necrosis factor-alpha inhibitors (SC-TNFi) in patients with ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, or rheumatoid arthritis [collectively immune-mediated rheumatic disease, (IMRD)] in Sweden. A secondary objective was to describe potential effects on health care resource utilization (HCRU) cost from non-persistence. Patients were identified through filled prescriptions for adalimumab (ADA), etanercept (ETA), certolizumab pegol (CZP), and golimumab (GLM) between 5/6/2010 and 12/31/2012 from the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register. Persistence was estimated using survival analysis. Costs were derived from HCRU and comprised specialized outpatient care, inpatient care and non-disease-modifying antirheumatic drug medications. A total of 4903 patients were identified (ADA: 1823, ETA: 1704, CZP: 622, GLM: 754). Comparisons over 3 years showed that GLM had significantly higher persistence than ADA (p = 0.022) and ETA (p = 0.004). The mean difference in non-biologic HCRU costs between persistent and non-persistent patients was higher after compared to before the start of biologic therapy. SC-TNFi-naïve IMRD patients initiating treatment with GLM had significantly higher persistence rates than patients initiating treatment with ADA or ETA in Sweden. Furthermore, persistence rates observed in the study were lower than those observed in clinical trials, highlighting the need for an all-party (provider-patient-payer-drug manufacturer) engagement and development of programs to increase persistence rates in clinical practice, thus leading to improved clinical outcomes. In addition, the results of this study indicate that persistence to treatment with SC-TNFi may be associated with cost offsets in terms of non-biologic costs.

Treatment persistence among patients with rheumatoid disease (RA, AS, PsA) treated with subcutaneous biologics in Germany.

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), ankylosing spondylitis (AS), and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) are frequently treated with subcutaneous biologic therapies when disease progresses or when response to synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) is inadequate. This study analyzed treatment persistence and treatment patterns for RA, AS, and PsA patients in Germany initiating subcutaneous biologic therapies with and without prior DMARDs use. A retrospective cohort study was conducted using the Electronic Medical Record database of IMS Disease Analyzer, Germany. Patients who were ≥18 years old; had at least one ICD-10 diagnosis code of RA, AS, or PsA during the study period; and had exposure to a subcutaneous biologic agent between January 1, 2009 and June 30, 2012 were selected. Patients were required to have continuous observation ≥12 months prior to and after index medication date. Persistence was defined as consecutive days from treatment initiation until treatment discontinuation (≥60-day lapse in medication coverage). Patients were stratified by pre-index use of DMARDs. Kaplan-Meier analysis was conducted to assess time to discontinuation, and logistic regression was conducted to identify characteristics associated with persistence. A total of 576 RA, 108 AS, and 197 PsA patients without biologic experience during the pre-index period were selected. The percentages of RA, AS, and PsA patients persistent ≥12 months were 51.9, 48.1, and 57.9 %, respectively. Median persistent time over 12 months was 365.0 days for RA (mean 245.9 days), 281.0 for AS (mean 228.5), and 365.0 for PsA (mean 264.1). In the RA cohort, a significantly higher proportion of those with pre-index DMARD use were persistent compared to those without pre-index DMARD (56.1 vs. 33.3 %, p = 0.0001). No significant differences were observed for the AS and PsA cohorts. Multivariate analyses confirmed that DMARD-experienced patients were 2.45 times more likely to be persistent with subcutaneous biologic therapy in the RA cohort. Switching between subcutaneous biologics occurred in <10 % of patients in all three cohorts. In the subpopulations with at least two prescriptions for the index subcutaneous biologic and who remained persistent on the index subcutaneous biologic, dose escalation of ≥50 % occurred in 50, 60, and 49 % in the RA, AS, and PsA cohorts, respectively. Among RA, AS, and PsA patients newly initiating subcutaneous biologic agents in Germany, persistence at 12 months is relatively low (48-58 %). For the RA cohort, patients with pre-index DMARD use are more persistent than patients without. The majority of patients do not switch between subcutaneous biologics. A notable proportion of patients who remained persistent on their index subcutaneous biologic had a dose escalation. There are opportunities to improve outcomes of patient with rheumatoid disease through improved medication persistence.

Inadequate pain relief and large functional loss among patients with knee osteoarthritis: evidence from a prospective multinational longitudinal study of osteoarthritis real-world therapies.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of inadequate pain relief (IPR) among patients with symptomatic knee OA prescribed analgesic therapy and to characterize patients with IPR. METHODS: Patients ≥50 years old with physician-diagnosed knee OA who had taken topical or oral pain medication for at least 14 days were recruited for this prospective non-interventional study in six European countries. Pain and function were assessed using the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) and the WOMAC; quality of life (QoL) was assessed using the 12-item short form. IPR was defined as an average pain score of >4 out of 10 on BPI question 5. RESULTS: Of 1187 patients enrolled, 68% were female and the mean age was 68 years (s.d. 9); 639 (54%) met the definition of IPR. Patient responses for the BPI average pain question were well correlated with responses on the WOMAC pain subscale (Spearman r = 0.64, P < 0.001). In multivariate logistic regression, patients with IPR had greater odds of being female [adjusted odds ratio (adjOR) 1.90 (95% CI 1.46, 2.48)] and having OA in both knees [adjOR 1.48 (95% CI 1.15, 1.90)], higher BMI, longer OA duration, depression or diabetes. Patients with IPR (vs non-IPR) were more likely to have worse QoL, greater function loss and greater pain interference. CONCLUSION: IPR is common among patients with knee OA requiring analgesics and is associated with large functional loss and impaired QoL. Patients at particular risk of IPR, as characterized in this study, may require greater attention towards their analgesic treatment options. TRIAL REGISTRATION: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ (NCT01294696).

Real-world use of first-line pembrolizumab + platinum + taxane combination regimens in recurrent / metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Introduction: The programmed death-1 (PD-1) immune checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab is currently approved in the US for the first-line (1L) treatment of recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (R/M HNSCC), either alone or in combination with platinum and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). However, the toxicity of 5-FU has motivated the study of alternate combinations that replace 5-FU with a taxane. The objective of the current study was to describe the baseline characteristics, treatment patterns and sequences, and real-world outcomes of individuals receiving pembrolizumab + platinum + taxane as 1L treatment for R/M HNSCC in the US. Methods: This was a retrospective study of US adults ≥18 years of age receiving pembrolizumab + platinum + taxane as 1L treatment for R/M HNSCC, using electronic health record data from a nationwide de-identified database. Real-world overall survival (rwOS), time on treatment (rwToT), and time to next treatment (rwTTNT) outcomes were assessed using Kaplan-Meier analysis. Results: The study population comprised 83 individuals (80.7% male) with a median age of 64 years. The most common tumor site was the oropharynx (48.2%); 70.0% of these tumors were HPV-positive. A total of 71.1% of the study population had an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0-1 at index date, 71.8% had a combined positive score for programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) expression of ≥1, and 30.8% had a score of ≥20. The median (95% CI) rwOS was 14.9 (8.8-23.3) months, rwToT was 5.3 (4.0-8.2) months, and rwTTNT was 8.7 (6.8-12.3) months. Among the 24 individuals who received a subsequent therapy, the most common second-line therapies were cetuximab-based (n = 9) or pembrolizumab-containing (n = 8) regimens. Conclusions: The rwOS and other real-world outcomes observed for this study population further support pembrolizumab + platinum + taxane combination therapy as a potential 1L treatment option for R/M HNSCC.

Identifying Predictors of First-Line Subcutaneous TNF-Inhibitor Persistence in Patients with Inflammatory Arthritis: A Decision Tree Analysis by Indication.

INTRODUCTION: Treatment persistence is a proxy for efficacy, safety and patient satisfaction, and a switch in treatment or treatment discontinuation has been associated with increased indirect and direct costs in inflammatory arthritis (IA). Hence, there are both clinical and economic incentives for the identification of factors associated with treatment persistence. Until now, studies have mainly leveraged traditional regression analysis, but it has been suggested that novel approaches, such as statistical learning techniques, may improve our understanding of factors related to treatment persistence. Therefore, we set up a study using nationwide Swedish high-coverage administrative register data with the objective to identify patient groups with distinct persistence of subcutaneous tumor necrosis factor inhibitor (SC-TNFi) treatment in IA, using recursive partitioning, a statistical learning algorithm. METHODS: IA was defined as a diagnosis of rheumatic arthritis (RA), ankylosing spondylitis/unspecified spondyloarthritis (AS/uSpA) or psoriatic arthritis (PsA). Adult swedish biologic-naïve patients with IA initiating biologic treatment with a SC-TNFi (adalimumab, etanercept, certolizumab or golimumab) between May 6, 2010, and December 31, 2017. Treatment persistence of SC-TNFi was derived based on prescription data and a defined standard daily dose. Patient characteristics, including age, sex, number of health care contacts, comorbidities and treatment, were collected at treatment initiation and 12 months before treatment initiation. Based on these characteristics, we used recursive partitioning in a conditional inference framework to identify patient groups with distinct SC-TNFi treatment persistence by IA diagnosis. RESULTS: A total of 13,913 patients were included. Approximately 50% had RA, while 27% and 23% had AS/uSpA and PsA, respectively. The recursive partitioning algorithm identified sex and treatment as factors associated with SC-TNFi treatment persistence in PsA and AS/uSpA. Time on treatment in the groups with the lowest treatment persistence was similar across all three indications (9.5-11.3 months), whereas there was more variation in time on treatment across the groups with the highest treatment persistence (18.4-48.9 months). CONCLUSIONS: Women have low SC-TNFi treatment persistence in PsA and AS/uSpA whereas male sex and golimumab are associated with high treatment persistence in these indications. The factors associated with treatment persistence in RA were less distinct but may comprise disease activity and concurrent conventional systemic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug (DMARD) treatment.

Real-world study of patients with locally advanced HNSCC in the community oncology setting.

Introduction: There is a need to understand the current treatment landscape for LA HNSCC in the real-world setting. Methods: This retrospective study assessed real-world outcomes and treatment patterns of 1,158 adult patients diagnosed with locally advanced (stage III-IVB) HNSCC initiating chemoradiotherapy (CRT) within the period January 2015 to December 2017 in a large network of US community oncology practices. Structured data were abstracted from electronic health records. Demographic, clinical and treatment characteristics were analyzed descriptively overall and stratified by index treatment (cisplatin + radiotherapy [RT], cisplatin + other chemotherapy + RT, or cetuximab + RT). Time to next treatment (TTNT) and overall survival (OS) were measured using the Kaplan-Meier method, and median duration of treatment was assessed. OS was compared across treatment cohorts using multinomial logistic regression with inverse probability treatment weighting. To identify covariates associated with OS, a multivariable adjusted Cox proportional hazard model was used. Results: This study examined 22,782 records, of which 2124 had stage III to stage IVB and no other cancers, and 1158 met all eligibility criteria. Among the treatment cohorts analyzed (cisplatin + RT, cisplatin + other chemotherapy + RT, or cetuximab + RT), cisplatin + RT was the most common concurrent chemotherapy (65.8%). Among 1158 patients, 838 (72.4%) did not initiate subsequent treatment and 139 (12.0%) died. The median TTNT and median OS were only reached by the cetuximab + RT cohort. Among patients with oropharynx primary tumor location, patients with human papilloma virus (HPV) positive status had the longest time on treatment and highest survival at 60 months. Covariates associated with improved survival were never/former tobacco use, HPV positive status, and overweight or obese body mass index. Covariates associated with poorer survival were age of 60+ years, primary tumor location of hypopharynx or oral cavity and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status score of 2+. Conclusion: These data describe real-world treatment patterns in locally advanced head and neck squamous cell cancer and sets the baseline to assess outcomes for future studies on the community oncology population.

Real-world treatment patterns and outcomes among individuals receiving first-line pembrolizumab therapy for recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Background: Pembrolizumab, a PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor, is approved as first-line (1L) treatment for recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (R/M HNSCC) as monotherapy or in combination with platinum and 5-fluorouracil chemotherapy. Limited data exist on the use of these regimens in real-world settings. Objective: Our primary objectives were to describe baseline characteristics and real-world overall survival (rwOS), time on treatment (rwToT), and time to next treatment (rwTTNT) among individuals with R/M HNSCC receiving approved 1L pembrolizumab therapies. We also aimed to identify baseline factors associated with choice of 1L pembrolizumab therapy and with rwOS. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of adults with R/M HNSCC receiving 1L pembrolizumab monotherapy or pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy. We used Kaplan-Meier analyses to assess real-world outcomes, logistic regression modeling to identify factors associated with choice of 1L pembrolizumab therapy, and Cox proportional hazards models to identify factors associated with rwOS. Results: The study population included 431 individuals receiving 1L pembrolizumab monotherapy and 215 receiving 1L pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy. The use of 1L pembrolizumab monotherapy was associated with higher baseline combined positive score for PD-L1 expression, older age, higher Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG PS), laryngeal tumor site, and human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive tumor status. The pembrolizumab monotherapy group had a median (95% CI) rwOS of 12.1 (9.2-15.1) months, rwToT of 4.2 (3.5-4.6) months, and rwTTNT of 6.5 (5.4-7.4) months. Among this group, HPV-positive tumor status and lower ECOG PS were associated with longer rwOS, and oral cavity tumor site with shorter rwOS. The pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy cohort had a median (95% CI) rwOS of 11.9 (9.0-16.0) months, rwToT of 4.9 (3.8-5.6) months, and rwTTNT of 6.6 (5.8-8.3) months. In this group, HPV-positive tumor status was associated with longer rwOS. Conclusions: This study adds to clinical trial data by summarizing real-world treatment outcomes with 1L pembrolizumab-containing therapies in a more heterogeneous population. Overall survival outcomes in both treatment groups were similar to those observed in the registration clinical trial. These findings support the use of pembrolizumab as standard of care for R/M HNSCC.

Corrigendum: Real-world treatment patterns and outcomes among individuals receiving first-line pembrolizumab therapy for recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2023.1160144.].

Treatment Persistence in Patients Cycling on Subcutaneous Tumor Necrosis Factor-Alpha Inhibitors in Inflammatory Arthritis: A Retrospective Study.

INTRODUCTION: Biologic treatments including subcutaneous tumor necrosis factor-alpha inhibitors (SC-TNFis) have greatly improved disease management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) (collectively inflammatory arthritis, IA). Nevertheless, some patients discontinue their first-line treatment; for them, one option may be a subsequent line of the same treatment class (i.e., cycling). The aim of this study was to assess treatment persistence between first- and second-line therapy in Swedish IA patients cycling on SC-TNFis. METHODS: Using data from the Swedish Health Data Registers, adult IA patients filling prescriptions between May 1, 2010, and October 31, 2016, for a SC-TNFi (adalimumab, etanercept, certolizumab and golimumab) were included. Treatment persistence was derived based on information from filled prescriptions and a 60-day grace period. Unadjusted and adjusted marginal Cox proportional hazards models were fitted to estimate the relative risk of discontinuation across treatment lines, using robust sandwich covariance matrix estimates to account for intrapatient dependence (i.e., multiple treatment lines per patient). The analysis was restricted to the first two lines of treatment. RESULTS: Of the eligible patients, 3181 were identified as cyclers. Among these, most were female (68%), and 46%, 28% and 26% were diagnosed with RA, AS and PsA, respectively. Both the unadjusted and adjusted analyses showed that the relative risk of discontinuing SC-TNFi treatment was significantly lower in second compared to first line (hazard ratio; 0.60 [0.57, 0.63] and HR; 0.59 [0.56, 0.62]). This finding was also consistent across IA indications. CONCLUSIONS: In this study of patients cycling on SC-TNFis in IA, persistence was greater in second- compared to first-line treatment. The finding was consistent across all IA indications. Hence, patients who discontinue their first-line treatment may still benefit from treatment with an alternative SC-TNFi as a second-line therapy in IA.

A social and news media benchmark dataset for topic modeling.

Topic modeling is an active research area with several unanswered questions. The focus of recent research in this area is on the use of a vector embedding representation of the input text with both generative and evolutionary topic modeling techniques. Unfortunately, it is hard to compare different techniques when the underlying data and preprocessing steps that were used to develop the models are not available. This paper presents two secondary datasets that can help address this gap. These datasets are derived from two primary datasets. The first consists of 8145 posts from the r/Cancer health forum and the second consists of 18,294 messages submitted to 20 different news groups. The same preprocessing procedure is applied to both datasets by removing punctuation, stop words and high frequency words. Each dataset is then clustered using three different topic modeling techniques: pPSO, ETM and NVDM and three topic numbers: 10, 20, 30. In addition, for pPSO two text embeddings representation are considered: sBERT and Skipgram. The secondary datasets were originally developed in support of a comparative analysis of the aforementioned topic modeling techniques in a study titled "Comparing PSO-based Clustering over Contextual Vector Embeddings to Modern Topic Modeling" submitted to the Journal of Information Processing and Management. The present paper provides a detailed description of the two secondary datasets including the unique identifier that can be used to retrieve the original documents, the pre-processing scripts, the topic keywords generated by the three topic modeling techniques with varying topic numbers and embedding representations. As such, the datasets allow direct comparison with other topic modeling techniques. To further facilitate this process, the algorithm underlying the evolutionary topic modeling technique, pPSO, proposed by the authors is also provided.

Health-Care and Societal Costs Associated with Non-Persistence with Subcutaneous TNF-α Inhibitors in the Treatment of Inflammatory Arthritis (IA): A Retrospective Observational Study.

OBJECTIVE: A few studies have suggested that patients with inflammatory arthritis (IA) who remain persistent with subcutaneous TNF-α inhibitors (SC-TNFi) incur lower health care costs than patients who discontinue treatment, whereas data on the impact of non-persistence on indirect costs are largely lacking. Furthermore, existing estimates are based on fixed follow-ups, in relation to treatment initiation, and therefore do not measure costs in direct relation to treatment discontinuation. Therefore, by capturing costs in direct relation to treatment discontinuation, this study aimed to estimate direct and indirect costs associated with non-persistence with SC-TNFis in IA. METHODS: Adult Swedish biologic-naïve IA patients initiating biologic treatment with a SC-TNFi (adalimumab, etanercept, certolizumab or golimumab) between May 6, 2010, and December 31, 2017, were identified in population-based registers with almost complete coverage. IA was defined as a diagnosis of rheumatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis/unspecified spondyloarthritis or psoriatic arthritis. Non-persistent patients were matched on propensity score to patients persistent with treatment by at least an additional 12 months. This enabled comparisons of direct healthcare costs and indirect costs for sick leave and disability pension, respectively, 12 months before and 12 months after treatment discontinuation. RESULTS: A balanced cohort of 486 matched pairs was generated. The total direct and indirect costs were significantly higher among non-persistent patients already during the 12 months before index ($20,802 [18,335-23,429] vs. $16,600 [14,331-18,696]). However, while non-persistent patients increased their total direct and indirect costs, persistent patients significantly decreased the same, further widening the difference in costs during the 12-month period after index date ($22,161 [19,754-24,556] vs. $13,465 [11,415-15,729]). CONCLUSIONS: Among biologic-naïve Swedish IA patients treated with SC-TNFis, persistent patients incurred about 40% lower aggregated direct and indirect costs compared to non-persistent patients the year following SC-TNFi discontinuation. This highlights the impact of treatment persistence from an economic viewpoint, adding further aspects to the clinical perspective.