Abstract
Background/Aims The colony stimulating factors (CSFs), filgrastim and its long-acting form, pegfilgrastim, are indicated by the Food and Drug Administration to decrease infections in patients with non-myeloid malignancies receiving myelosuppressive chemotherapy. Roughly 25–40% of treatment-naive patients receiving common chemotherapy regimens develop febrile neutropenia (FN). FN is associated with treatment delays, dose reductions, hospitalizations, and a high cost burden. CSFs decrease the incidence, length and severity of chemotherapy-related neutropenia in several solid tumors and prophylactically, decrease infection rates and neutropenia, infection-related mortality, and early deaths associated with chemotherapy. A reduction in absolute and relative risk for all-cause mortality is associated with CSF use and in combination with antibiotics for the treatment of FN, CSFs decrease the length of hospitalization; however, recent studies have shown these agents are frequently administered in a manner inconsistent with the recommended guidelines. The high costs associated with FN treatment, the high cost of CSFs and administration of CSFs in a manner inconsistent with scientific evidence creates both a clinical and economic challenge for health plans. To date, CSF data within the Virtual Data Warehouse (VDW) has not been evaluated for accuracy.
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