Abstract
Simple SummaryCancer patients and cancer survivors are at risk for malnutrition from both their disease and its treatment. Many cancer survivors use dietary supplementation without informing their doctors. The goal of this study was to examine the prevalence and cost-effectiveness of dietary supplementation in a nationally representative sample of cancer survivors in the U.S. by looking at intake and hospitalization records. Adequate nutrition is a cost-effective way to promote well-being More research needs to be carried out so providers can offer the best nutrition to the right patients at the right time.Cancer patients are at risk for malnutrition; the aim of this study was to provide a cost-effectiveness analysis of dietary supplementation in cancer survivors. We estimated prevalence of supplementation, hospitalization rates, quality of life (QOL), cost of care and mortality among cancer survivors. We built a decision analytic model to simulate life-long costs of health care and supplementation and QOL among cancer survivors with and without supplementation. Cost of supplements was derived from national pharmacy databases including single- and multivitamin formularies. One-way and probabilistic sensitivity analysis were performed to evaluate the robustness of the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) to changes in supplementation costs and duration. The study cohort represented the national cancer survivor population (average age 61 years, 85% white, 52% male, and 94% insured). Hospitalization rates for supplement users and non-users were 12% and 21%, respectively. The cost of hospitalization was $4030. Supplementation was associated with an additional 0.48 QALYs (10.26 vs. 9.78) at the incremental cost of $2094 ($236,933 vs. $234,839) over the remaining lifetime of survivors (on average 13 years). Adequate nutrition provides a cost-effective strategy to achieving potentially optimum health. Further studies are needed to determine the effects of specific nutrient doses and supplementation on long-term outcomes per cancer type.
Highlights
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Adequate nutrition throughout the continuum of care is important for optimizing short- and long-term clinical and economic outcomes of all patients [1]
The study sample was representative of the national population of individuals with cancer diagnosis (Table 1)
More research is needed on the role and duration of dietary supplements (DS) in cancer patients to determine the level of dose response
Summary
Adequate nutrition throughout the continuum of care is important for optimizing short- and long-term clinical and economic outcomes of all patients [1]. Evidence demonstrates that nutrition interventions in the general healthy population can serve as effective preventive as well as therapeutic measures [2]. Despite $12.8 billion a year spent by Americans on dietary supplements (DS), limited data exist on the cost-effectiveness and long-term economic sustainability of these nutrition interventions and approaches [3]. Cancer patients are especially at risk for malnutrition as cancer has a serious negative impact on patient ability to consume and absorb nutrients and, their functioning [4]
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