OBJECTIVES: Assess health care resource utilization (HCRU) and costs of metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (mNSCLC) among patients receiving =2 treatment lines in the United Kingdom (UK), Spain (SP), Germany (GE), and France (FR).
METHODS: mNSCLC-related HCRU and treatment data were abstracted from medical records of patients aged =18 years who initiated 2nd line treatment for mNSCLC between January 2008, and December 2014 (UK)/January 2015 (SP, GE)/October 2015 (FR). HCRU (inpatient, outpatient, and specialist visits) was assessed as the mean number of visits per patient per month of active treatment. Costs were estimated by multiplying unit costs (obtained from official health service estimates and formulary listings) by resource use.
RESULTS: Among 821 patients, over 70% were male and the median age at metastatic diagnosis was 62.4 years. Most tumors were adenocarcinoma (48.7%) or squamous cell carcinoma (45.1%). At metastatic diagnosis, 85.5% of patients had a performance status of =1. While receiving systemic treatment, median number of health care visits per month was 1.9 UK, 2.1 SP, 2.1 GE, and 2.0 FR. The most frequent type of visit in each country were outpatient consultant/hospital visits (1.5 UK, 1.4 SP, 2.0 GE, and 1.1 FR). The proportion of patients with at least one hospitalization was 14.6% UK, 20.8% SP, 32.5% GE, and 46.8% FR. Among patients with at least one hospitalization, the monthly median number of hospitalizations during systemic treatment was lowest in SP (0.1) and highest in FR (0.9). The total median monthly health care costs during active treatment were £1941 UK, €2134 SP, €2712 GE, and €3151 FR. Chemotherapy incurred the highest cost in the UK, SP, and GE. Inpatient visits incurred the highest cost in FR.
CONCLUSIONS: Total monthly HCRU is similar across countries; however, utilization by visit type varied. Costs differed by country, with the highest total cost incurred in FR.
