Bone targeting agent treatment patterns and the impact of bone metastases on patients with advanced breast cancer in the US.

Abstract

93 Background: Bone is the most common site of distant metastasis in patients with advanced breast cancer. Bone metastases (BMs) often lead to skeletal-related events (SREs) and may result in debilitating bone pain which impacts a patient’s quality of life. Bone targeting agents (BTAs) reduce the incidence of SREs and progression of pain due to BMs. This study aims to understand real world patients’ experience of bone pain and to assess BTAs treatment patterns. Methods: Data were extracted from the Adelphi Breast Cancer Disease-Specific Programme (DSP), a cross-sectional survey of 98 US oncologists conducted from February to May 2015 in the USA. Each physician completed comprehensive record forms capturing the following information about the next 12 patients being treated for advanced breast cancer: Presence of BMs, patient’s pain state at diagnosis of BMs, current pain state, time since diagnosis of BMs, current analgesic use and reasons for prescribing BTAs. Results: Bone pain was more prevalent (p < 0.001) in patients with BMs (67% of 485) than those without BM (7% of 791). Mean time for pain assessment was 6.2 months after BM diagnosis. Among breast cancer patients with BMs and bone pain (n = 323), 98% required analgesic medications to manage the pain, including 40% (n = 130) who were treated with strong opioids (e.g., morphine, oxycodone, hydromorphone, or methadone). Of these patients, 100 (77%) had moderate/severe bone pain. Of the patients with BMs, 69% (n = 337) were treated with a BTA and treatment was initiated within 3 months of BMs diagnosis in 91% (n = 306) of them. The reasons for prescribing a BTA within 3 months of BM diagnosis were “bone pain” (32%), “high risk of bone complications” (25%), “prior history of bone complications”(18%), “number of BMs” (11%) and “location of BMs” (4%). Conclusions: Advanced breast cancer patients with BMs are more likely to experience bone pain, and three-fourths of the patients treated with strong opioids experienced moderate/severe bone pain.The majority of patients with BMs receive a BTA prescription for the reduction of bone pain and risk of bone complications.