Liu Y, Wang S, Li L, Xu Y, Shen Y, Tina Shih YC. Comparisons of Medical Cost Trajectories Between Non-Hispanic Black and Non-Hispanic White Patients With Newly Diagnosed Localized Prostate Cancer.
VALUE IN HEALTH : THE JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR PHARMACOECONOMICS AND OUTCOMES RESEARCH 2023;
26:1444-1452. [PMID:
37348833 PMCID:
PMC10527436 DOI:
10.1016/j.jval.2023.06.003]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2022] [Revised: 05/04/2023] [Accepted: 06/13/2023] [Indexed: 06/24/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES
This study applied a recently developed statistical method to compare the mean cost trajectories between non-Hispanic White (NHW) and non-Hispanic Black (NHB) patients with localized prostate cancer conditioning on patients' survival.
METHODS
In this observational study, we modeled cost trajectories of NHW and NHB patients with localized prostate cancer for 3 survival durations: 24, 48, and 72 months. We also compared the cost trajectories between NHW and NHB, stratified by comorbidities scores.
RESULTS
We find that the mean cost trajectories of NHB were significantly higher than the trajectories of NHW in the last 12 months before death, regardless of the survival duration and patients' baseline comorbidity scores. For patients with comorbidity score ≥2, mean cost trajectories within the first year of diagnosis for NHB were significantly higher than those for NHW, except for the subgroup of patients with comorbidity 2-3 and whose survival length was 72 months.
CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggested that a higher proportion of NHB patients with high comorbidity scores are likely contribute to their higher end-of-life costs than those for NHW patients. To narrow the gap in healthcare-related financial burden between NHB and NHW patients with localized prostate cancer, policy makers need to explore different strategies to better manage comorbidities.
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