RESUMO
BACKGROUND: The burden associated with the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma (MM) is expected to increase due to the aging population. Thus, policymakers and clinicians need a holistic view of the healthcare resource use (HCRU) and costs associated with MM and its treatment for informed decision making. However, nationwide information on HCRU and costs due to MM is scarce in Finland. The aim of this study was to determine healthcare resource utilization, patterns of service use and associated costs among Finnish patients with MM during the first 5 years from their first diagnosis and at end of life. METHODS: Data on patients newly diagnosed with MM and receiving treatment for it in Finland in 2015-2019 was sourced from comprehensive nationwide registers. Data on all-cause and MM-specific HCRU including inpatient stays, outpatient visits and contacts, emergency care visits and home care were obtained separately from specialized and primary care registers. HCRU costs were assessed by multiplying the numbers of primary and specialized care contacts by respective national unit costs. For reimbursed outpatient medication and reimbursed sick leave, data on actual costs were collected. All registry data were linked via unique personal identifiers, and follow-up time was up to 5 years. RESULTS: Altogether, 1615 patients were included in the analyses. In the 5-year follow-up period, patients had on average 96 healthcare contacts per patient-year (PPY) and the mean all-cause healthcare costs were 46,000 PPY. Around 47% of these costs originated from reimbursed outpatient medication and the rest from healthcare contacts. Over half (60%) of the contacts occurred in primary care but most of the costs were associated with specialized care. Additionally, 29% of contacts were MM-specific, but they were responsible for 58% of the costs. The HCRU was highest during the first year after diagnosis, levelled off during the follow-up and then increased significantly during the last year of patients' lives. The number of all-cause healthcare contacts PPY was approximately 53% higher, and the respective costs were 5% higher during the last year of a patient's life when compared with the first year after diagnosis. During the last 12 months (N = 417) and 6 months (N = 505) of life and during palliative care (N = 145), the most common healthcare contact was home care. CONCLUSIONS: During active treatment, MM is primarily treated in the specialized care setting, with outpatient medication and visits to specialized care being the main cost drivers. These results can be utilized to estimate the need for care and expected costs over time due to MM and in health economic evaluations concerning MM.
RESUMO
This study aimed to determine the incidence and prevalence of multiple myeloma (MM) in Finland in 2015-2019, to characterize adult patients newly diagnosed with MM, and to follow-up their overall survival (OS) and treatment patterns until the end of 2020. We sourced the data on inpatient and outpatient diagnoses, outpatient medication use, and date of death from comprehensive, nationwide registers. We identified 2037 incident patients with MM in 2015-2019. On average, the annual crude incidence was 8.8 and the age-standardized incidence (World Standard Population) was 3.3 per 100,000. The crude prevalence at the end of 2019 was 32.7 cases per 100,000 inhabitants ≥ 18 years of age. Median age of the patients at first diagnosis (index date) was 71 years, and 48% were female, the median follow-up being 2.4 years. The median OS was estimated at 4.5 years. The proportion of the patients receiving autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) within one year since the index date was 24%, with little variation across study years. Conversely, the proportion of all patients receiving lenalidomide within one year since the index date increased from 27 to 48% overall, and from 39 to 81% among ASCT recipients. The estimated median relapse-free survival after ASCT was 2.9 years. Information on in-hospital MM medication administrations was available for a subset of the study cohort. In this subset, 85.8% of the patients received immunomodulatory drugs and/or proteasome inhibitors within the first year after the index date.