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Estimating costs of diagnosis and treatment for lung cancer using linked longitudinal data. Jim Butler Australian National University. A seminar presented at the British Columbia Cancer Agency, Vancouver, Canada 1 December 2006. Overview. Some issues in methods Study 1 – Treatment costs
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Estimating costs of diagnosis and treatment for lung cancer using linked longitudinal data Jim Butler Australian National University A seminar presented at the British Columbia Cancer Agency, Vancouver, Canada 1 December 2006
Overview • Some issues in methods • Study 1 – Treatment costs • Study 2 – Diagnosis costs (in progress)
T0 T1 T2 T3 T4 T0 Disease onset T1 Symptoms appear T2 First contact with health care system T3 Definitive diagnosis – commence treatment T4 End of episode (cure/death) Some issues in method Time period of observation
Censoring • Costs accumulate over time to a defined event (e.g. death) • Censored observations arise from subjects who are not followed to the defined event:- still alive at end of study- lost to follow-up during study • Apply survival analysis to cost data • Bias may arise if underlying assumptions are not satisfied
Key assumption in applying Kaplan/Meier method:censoring is independent of time-to-event (independent censoring) • → non-censored subjects are representative of all subjects • → censored subjects are neither a relatively high-risk sub-population nor a relatively low-risk sub-population
Probability that time to event T exceeds any given value t is given by {s1, s2, …} = observed failure times rs = risk of failure at times
Need a set of unbiased estimators of the set of hazardsrs • Even if independent censoring characterises time-to-event analysis, it may not characterise cost-to-event analysis e.g. low-cost subjects may be more likely to drop out • Extent of problem is an empirical matter • Less likely to be a problem with analyses using population-based data (e.g. people leaving region/province/country are the source of drop-out)
Study 1 SURVIVAL AND TREATMENT COSTS OF A POPULATION-BASED SAMPLE OF STAGE IIIb/IV NON-SMALL CELL LUNG CANCER (NSCLC) PATIENTS ONBEST SUPPORTIVE CARE (BSC) Erich KliewerJim ButlerAlain Demers Sri Navaratnam Grace Musto Coreen Hildebrand
Objectives • For stage IIIb/IV NSCLC patients in BSC phase of treatment describe their: • chemotherapy treatment prior to BSC • survival since start of BSC • treatment since start of BSC • costs of treatment since start of BSC
Study Population • Patients diagnosed with stage IIIb/IV NSCLC in Manitoba between March 1997-June 2000 and who had survived at least 28 days since last chemotherapy (BSC phase). • If stage IIIb they had to have either pleural effusion or supraclavicular lymph node metastsis. • n=150
Average cost per patient-month from date of last chemotherapy(CAD, current prices, undiscounted)
Average cost per patient-month over various periods of follow-up(CAD, current prices, undiscounted)
Average cost per patient-month from date of last chemo vs BSC date(CAD, current prices, undiscounted)
Lifetime treatment costs (LTC) were estimated by applying Kaplan-Meier monthly survival probabilities to average cost per month. The formula with monthly discounting is:
Study 2 ANALYSIS OF WAITING TIMES AND COSTS FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF NON-SMALL CELL LUNG CANCER Winson Cheung Steve Welch Jim ButlerErich Kliewer Alain Demers Grace Musto Sri Navaratnam
Objectives • To assess the timeliness of the diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in Manitoba and to evaluate the variables that affect these waiting times. • To quantify the costs involved in the diagnosis of NSCLC in Manitoba. • To correlate data collected by chart review with information from the Manitoba Health administrative databases.
Methods • Patients diagnosed with NSCLC from January 1, 1996 to December 31, 2000 were identified using the Manitoba Cancer Registry. • Information on demographics, diagnostic and staging tests, timeline of investigations, and outcomes were collected by systematic, retrospective chart review for 543 patients. • Similar information was obtained from the Manitoba Health administrative databases for 472 of the patients.