How febrile neutropenia affects hospitalization in patients with bladder cancer: Nationwide insights.

Abstract

e16625 Background: Bladder cancer is the most prevalent form of malignancy in the urinary tract and is a leading global health concern. Febrile neutropenia is a severe and potentially life-threatening complication of cancer treatment, and limited research exists on the impact of Febrile Neutropenia in bladder cancer. Our study examined its effects on adverse outcomes for hospitalized bladder cancer patients. Methods: The National Inpatient Sample (2017-2020) was employed to identify Bladder cancer patients with regional and advanced metastatic disease as the primary diagnosis and were stratified based on the presence or absence of a secondary diagnosis of Febrile neutropenia (FN). The primary outcome measure was mortality, while the secondary outcomes included length of stay, total cost of hospitalization, and other adverse in-hospital outcomes. Multivariate regression analysis was used to adjust for the confounding variables. Results: A total of 102,485 patients were hospitalized for Bladder cancer, among whom 865 had concurrent FN. The mean age of patients with FN was 67.31±17.44, while that of patients without FN was 72.19±11.48, p<0.001. As compared to Patients without FN, those with FN had a greater percentage of patients with Medicaid (8.77% vs. 6.15%) and private insurance (30.41% vs. 19.74%), while fewer patients with Medicare (58.48% vs. 72.17%), p=0.001. After multivariate regression analysis, patients with FN had increased odds of mortality (OR=4.33,(2.52-7.45); p<0.001). FN patients had a longer length of stay (+2.69 days (1.32-4.05); p<0.001) and higher total cost of hospitalization (+$23,229(3,907-4,255); p<0.001). Patients with FN were more likely to have fluid and electrolyte disorders (OR=1.57(1.11-2.20); p=0.009). However, no significant differences were observed in the odds of Sepsis (OR=1.34(0.62-2.85); p=0.45), Acute kidney injury (OR=1.10 (0.74-1.63); p=0.61), Acute respiratory failure (OR=1.11(0.50-2.50); p=0.78) and ICU admission (OR=0.56(0.20-1.57); p=0.27) between the two groups. Conclusions: In patients with bladder cancer, febrile neutropenia has been identified as an independent predictor of mortality. It is associated with increased healthcare resource utilization and fluid and electrolyte disorders. Proactive management of risk factors can help control febrile neutropenia and reduce the occurrence of adverse events in patients hospitalized with bladder cancer. [Table: see text]