Economic Evaluation of Treating Skeletal-Related Events among Prostate Cancer Patients

Abstract Objectives To evaluate the economic burden of treating skeletal-related events (SREs) in prostate cancer (PC) patients with bone metastasis from an insurer perspective. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort analysis using claims data. PC patients with bone metastasis were identified in the MarketScan Databases between January 1, 2004, and March 1, 2014. The propensity score matching approach was used to match patients with SREs to those without SREs. A pseudo-SRE date was assigned to the control group. We compared 6-month and 12-month total costs of patients between two groups after the SRE or pseudo-SRE date. All costs were adjusted to 2014 US$. Results We identified 4083 PC men with bone metastasis, from which 787 patients with SREs were matched (1:1) to those without SREs. On average, the total 6-month cost of treating patients with SREs was $43,746 compared with $25,956 in the matched control cohort ( P P P P P Conclusions Our findings suggest that SREs impose considerable burden on health resource utilization for payers. Costs attributable to SREs were substantial. Most costs were incurred in the first month after the occurrence of SREs. Although costs decreased thereafter, they remained significantly higher for patients with SREs in subsequent months compared with patients without SREs.