Abstract
Objective To describe health care resource utilization and costs for patients with advanced soft tissue sarcoma (STS) in the United Kingdom (UK), Spain, Germany, and France. Methods Physicians abstracted data for adult patients with a diagnosis of advanced STS (other than Kaposi's sarcoma or gastrointestinal stromal tumor) who received ≥1 lines of systemic therapy. Health care resource utilization related to advanced STS treatment was recorded; associated costs were estimated by applying unit costs. Results A total of 130 physicians provided data for 807 patients (UK: 199; Spain: 203; Germany: 204; and France: 201). The site of care during active treatment varied based on differences in the health care systems of these four countries. Total mean per-patient health care cost in the UK was £19,457; in Spain, €26,814; in Germany, €20,468; and in France, €24,368. Advanced STS-related systemic treatment costs were driven primarily by drug acquisition and administration costs. Treatment-related costs increased during later lines of therapy for all countries except France, where they decreased after first-line therapy. Pain control and antiemetics were the most common supportive care medications. Conclusions This study provides real-world data on resource utilization and estimated costs in advanced STS and could inform policymakers about treatment burden.
Highlights
Introduction ere are more than50 histological subtypes of soft tissue sarcoma (STS), a rare and heterogeneous group of malignant neoplasms [1]
Study Design and Population. is study was a retrospective review of medical records of patients with advanced STS in the United Kingdom (UK), Spain, Germany, and France
130 physicians participated in the study (21 in the UK, 34 in Spain, 40 in Germany, and 35 in France)
Summary
To describe health care resource utilization and costs for patients with advanced soft tissue sarcoma (STS) in the United Kingdom (UK), Spain, Germany, and France. Limited data have been published to date on health care resource use and costs associated with treatment of a broad sample of patients with advanced STS in European countries, despite the considerable disease burden of STS. E objective of this study was to fill gaps in the literature, including providing data on health care resource use (proportion with resource use events and number of visits) and estimating STS-related treatment costs (i.e., drug acquisition, drug administration, and treatment-related adverse events) for patients with advanced STS in real-world clinical settings in the United Kingdom (UK), Spain, Germany, and France.
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