Underutilization of best systemic therapy in patients with metastatic prostate cancer.

Abstract

111 Background: Advancement of treatment pathways in the management of metastatic prostate cancer (mPC) has identified newer systemic agents associated with survival advantage over androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) alone. Despite FDA approvals and guideline recommendations outlining standard of care (SOC) intensification of (ADT) with such additional systemic therapies such as docetaxel or novel hormonal therapies (NHT), these treatments are not being utilized uniformly by all practitioners. Our objective is to assess the utilization of such advanced therapies in patients with mPC and study differences in prescribing patterns. Methods: Between 2017 to present, we retrospectively identified all consecutive men with prostate cancer in a single health system. Electronic health record ICD code inquiries were used to identify patients. The population was further restricted utilizing diagnosis codes to include only those with metastatic prostate cancer and to exclude patients with second primary cancers. All treatment modalities and demographic information were analyzed to assess for prescribing patterns. Results: In total, 5,761 men had a diagnosis of prostate cancer. Exclusion criteria applied stepwise removed those with age <18 years (2 patients) and secondary malignancies (1046 patients), resulting in 4,713 men for analysis. Of these, 665 men were found to have mPC and included in the final cohort. Mean patient age was 70.3 ± 9.6 years. We found no statistically significant difference in SOC prescribing pattern based on race, ethnicity, insurance type, zip code, 2020 United States census household median income, nor year of treatment. There was, however, overall low utilization of intensification of ADT with docetaxel or NHT at 42%, with 58% of patients still being treated with only first generation antiandrogens or luteinizing hormone releasing hormone agonists. Conclusions: In a large health system, we found that next generation care can be provided independent of insurance payor profile, race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. However, despite guidelines to support newer systemic agents for patients with mPC, we continue to observe that it is underused in clinical practice. Additional studies are needed to identify potential clinician and patient barriers, as well as prescribing pattern failures that are limiting the implementation of evidence-based treatment beneficial to overall survival.