Survival in Women with De Novo Metastatic Breast Cancer: A Comparison of Real-World Evidence from a Publicly-Funded Canadian Province and the United States by Insurance Status.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Savard MF
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8774867 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Despite the wealth of evidence demonstrating the efficacy of treatment intensification beyond androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) among patients with de novo metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer (mCSPC), little is known of its real-world use. This study examined the real-world uptake of ADT treatment intensification among older men in a large Canadian province. We performed a retrospective population-based cohort study using province-wide linked administrative data in Ontario, Canada. Patients 66 years of age and older with de novo mCSPC were included and their treatment with conventional ADT-based regimens, ADT plus next-generation androgen receptor axis-targeted therapy, and ADT plus docetaxel were identified and stratified by time. From 2014 to 2019, 3556 patients were identified with de novo mCSPC. Most patients (n = 2794 [78.6%]) were treated with a conventional ADT regimen, whereas 399 (11.2%) patients received ADT intensification with docetaxel and 52 (1.5%) patients received abiraterone acetate plus prednisone. In a time-stratified analysis of ADT intensification before and after the pivotal AA+P trial (LATITUDE), AA+P uptake increased from 0.5% to 3.0%, whereas docetaxel use dropped from 12.0% to 10.0%. The median survival of the study population was 18 months (interquartile range = 10-31). The majority of patients with de novo mCSPC are treated with ADT alone in the Canadian real-world setting, despite randomized clinical trial evidence of benefit with the use of ADT-intensified regimens. As ADT treatment intensification is substantially underused, better understanding of the barriers to treatment and targeted education to address them are needed.
| S-EPMC8678925 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundTo evaluate the value of locoregional radiotherapy (LRRT) in de novo metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (dmNPC) and identify predictive factors for additional LRRT after palliative chemotherapy (PCT).MethodsOverall survival (OS) was the primary endpoint. Patients who underwent PCT and LRRT were categorized as the PCT+LRRT group; patients who only received palliative chemotherapy were categorized as the PCT group. Oligometastatic diseases (OMD) was defined as ≤5 metastatic lesions and ≤2 metastatic organs.ResultsA total of 168 patients were included for this study. The median OS of patients in the PCT+LRRT group was significantly higher than those in the PCT group (57 months vs. 22 months, P<0.001). Multivariate analyses (MVA) showed that LRRT (HR=0.533, 95% CI: 0.319-0.889, P = 0.016) and OMD (HR=0.548, 95% CI: 0.331-0.907, P = 0.019) were independent prognostic factors for dmNPC. Furthermore, Kaplan-Meier analyses showed that the 3-year OS of patients who received LRRT was significantly better than those who did not receive LRRT in the OMD subgroup (66.3% vs. 25.2%, P<0.001). While, the 3-year OS of patients who received LRRT and without LRRT was no different in the polymetastatic disease (PMD) subgroup (38.9% vs.11.5%, P = 0.115). MVA showed that LRRT was a favorable prognosticator in the OMD subgroup (HR=0.308, 95% CI: 0.159-0.598; P<0.001), and not a favorable prognosticator in the PMD subgroup (HR=0.510, 95% CI: 0.256-1.014, P = 0.055).ConclusionsLRRT has the potential to prolong OS in NPC patients with de novo OMD. These results suggest that OMD is a potential indicator for filtering beneficiaries from LRRT.
| S-EPMC8353352 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:Many LMICs have implemented Publicly Funded Health Insurance (PFHI) programmes to improve access and financial protection. The national PFHI scheme implemented in India for a decade has been recently modified and expanded to cover free hospital care for 500 million persons. Since increase in annual cover amount is one of the main design modifications in the new programme, the relevant policy question is whether such design change can improve financial protection for hospital care. An evaluation of state-specific PFHI programmes with vertical cover larger than RSBY can help answer this question. Three states in Southern India - Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have been pioneers in implementing PFHI with a large insurance cover. METHODS:The current study was meant to evaluate the PFHI in above three states in improving utilisation of hospital services and financial protection against expenses of hospitalization. Two cross-sections from National Sample Survey's health rounds, the 60th round done in 2004 and the 71st round done in 2014 were analysed. Instrumental Variable method was applied to address endogeneity or the selection problem in insurance. RESULTS:Enrollment under PFHI was not associated with increase in utilisation of hospital care in the three states. Private hospitals dominated the empanelment of facilities under PFHI as well as utilisation. Out of Pocket Expenditure and incidence of Catastrophic Health Expenditure did not decrease with enrollment under PFHI in the three states. The size of Out of Pocket Expenditure was significantly greater for utilisation in private sector, irrespective of insurance enrollment. CONCLUSION:PFHI in the three states used substantially larger vertical cover than national scheme in 2014. The three states are known for their good governance. Yet, the PFHI programmes in all three states failed in fulfilling their fundamental purpose. Increasing vertical cover of PFHI and using either 'Trusts' or Insurance-companies as purchasers may not give desired results in absence of adequate regulation. The study raises doubts regarding effectiveness of contracting under PFHIs to influence provider-behavior in the Indian context. Further research is required to find solutions for addressing gaps that contribute to poor financial outcomes for patients under PFHI.
| S-EPMC6935172 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThe continuing impetus for universal health coverage has given rise to publicly funded health insurance schemes in lower-middle income countries. However, there is insufficient understanding of how universal health coverage schemes impact gender equality and equity. This paper attempts to understand why utilization of a publicly funded health insurance scheme has been found to be lower among women compared to men in a southern Indian state. It aims to identify the gender barriers across various social institutions that thwart the policy objectives of providing financial protection and improved access to inpatient care for women.MethodsA qualitative study on the Chief Minister's Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme was carried out in urban and rural impoverished localities in Tamil Nadu, a southern state in India. Thirty-three women and 16 men who had a recent history of hospitalization and 14 stakeholders were purposefully interviewed. Transcribed interviews were content analyzed based on Naila Kabeer's Social Relations Framework using gender as an analytical category.ResultsWhile unpacking the navigation pathways of women to utilize publicly funded health insurance to access inpatient care, gender barriers are found operating at the household, community, and programmatic levels. Unpaid care work, financial dependence, mobility constraints, and gender norms emerged as the major gender-specific barriers arising from the household. Exclusions from insurance enrollment activities at the community level were mediated by a variety of social inequities. Market ideologies in insurance and health, combined with poor governance by State, resulted in out-of-pocket health expenditures, acute information asymmetry, selective availability of care, and poor acceptability. These gender barriers were found to be mediated by all four institutions-household, community, market, and State-resulting in lower utilization of the scheme by women.ConclusionsHealth policies which aim to provide financial protection and improve access to healthcare services need to address gender as a crucial social determinant. A gender-blind health insurance can not only leave many pre-existing gender barriers unaddressed but also accentuate others. This paper stresses that universal health coverage policy and programs need to have an explicit focus on gender and other social determinants to promote access and equity.
| S-EPMC7881649 | biostudies-literature
Project description:OBJECTIVE:To identify, synthesise and critically assess the empirical evidence of the impact generated by publicly and charity-funded health research in the United Kingdom. METHODS:We conducted a systematic literature review of the empirical evidence published in English in peer-reviewed journals between 2006 and 2017. Studies meeting the inclusion criteria were selected and their findings were analysed using the Payback Framework and categorised into five main dimensions, namely knowledge, benefits to future research and research use, benefits from informing policy and product development, health and health sector benefits, and broader economic benefits. We assessed the studies for risk of selection, reporting and funding bias. RESULTS:Thirteen studies met the inclusion criteria. The majority of the studies (10 out of 13) assessed impact at multiple domains including the main five key themes of the Payback Framework. All of them showed a positive impact of funded research on outcomes. Of those studies, one (8%), six (46%) and six (46%) presented a low, moderate and high risk of bias, respectively. CONCLUSIONS:Empirical evidence on the impact of publicly and charity-funded research is still limited and subject to funding and selection bias. More work is needed to establish the causal effects of funded research on academic outcomes, policy, practice and the broader economy.
| S-EPMC6394081 | biostudies-other
Project description:In several publicly funded health care systems, including Ontario, Canada, adult tonsillectomies and septoplasties have been suggested to be removed or "delisted" from the government health insurance plan. Thus, the objective of this study was to explore patient perspectives regarding out of pocket (OOP) payment for these procedures. An anonymous survey was administered to patients consented to undergo a tonsillectomy or septoplasty at a community otolaryngology-head and neck surgery (OHNS) practice. The survey asked patients if they would pay the projected cost for their surgery OOP and the maximum amount of time they would wait for their surgery. The survey also contained questions on socioeconomic status and disease severity. Seventy-one patients were included. Overall, 21% of patients were willing to pay OOP for their surgery. Forty-nine percent of patients reported that the maximum amount of time they would be willing to wait for their surgery was 2 to 6 months. There was no significant correlation found between any of the demographic variables or disease severity and willingness to pay OOP for these surgeries. In this study, a small percentage of patients who met the clinical indications for a tonsillectomy or a septoplasty would pay for their surgery in the event that it was not covered by the government health insurance plan. These surgeries are common operations and delisting them could potentially decrease the provision of these services and have a significant impact on Canadian OHNS practices.
| S-EPMC8058792 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundPublicly Funded Health Insurance Schemes (PFHIS) are intended to play a role in achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC). In countries like India, PFHISs have low penetrance and provide limited coverage of services and of family members within households, which can mean that women lose out. Gender inequities in relation to financial risk protection are understudied. Given the emphasis being placed on achieving UHC for all in India, this paper examined intersecting gender inequalities and changes in PFHIS coverage in southern India, where its penetrance is greater and of longer duration.Data and methodsThis study used the fourth (NFHS-4, 2015-16) and fifth (NFHS-5, 2019-21) rounds of India's National Family Health Survey for five southern states: namely, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana. The World Health Organization's Health Equity Assessment Toolkit (HEAT) Plus and Stata were used to analyse PFHIS coverage disaggregated by seven dimensions of inequality. Ratios and differences for binary dimensions; Between Group Variance and Theil Index for unordered dimensions; Absolute and Relative Concentration Index (RCI) for ordered dimensions were computed separately for women and men.ResultsOverall, PFHIS coverage increased significantly (p < 0.001) among women and men in Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala from NFHS-4 to NFHS-5. Overall, men had higher PFHIS coverage than women, especially in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana in both surveys. In both absolute and relative terms, PFHIS coverage was concentrated among older women and men across all states; age-related inequalities were higher among women than men in both surveys in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Telengana. The magnitude of education-related inequalities was twice as high as among women in Telangana (RCINFHS-4: -12.23; RCINFHS-5: -9.98) and Andhra Pradesh (RCINFHS-4: -8.05; RCINFHS-5: -7.84) as compared to men in Telangana (RCINFHS-4: -5.58; RCINFHS-5: -2.30) and Andhra Pradesh (RCINFHS-4: -4.40; RCINFHS-5: -3.12) and these inequalities remained in NFHS-5, suggesting that lower education level women had greater coverage. In the latter survey, a high magnitude of wealth-related inequality was observed in women (RCINFHS-4: -15.78; RCINFHS-5: -14.36) and men (RCINFHS-4: -20.42; RCINFHS-5: -13.84) belonging to Kerala, whereas this inequality has decreased from NFHS-4 to NFHS-5., again suggestive of greater coverage among poorer populations. Caste-related inequalities were higher in women than men in both surveys, the magnitude of inequalities decreased between 2015-16 and 2019-20.ConclusionsWe found gender inequalities in self-reported enrolment in southern states with long-standing PFHIS. Inequalities favoured the poor, uneducated and elderly, which is to some extend desirable when rolling out a PFHIS intended for harder to reach populations. However, religion and caste-based inequalities, while reducing, were still prevalent among women. If PFHIS are to truly offer financial risk protection, they must address the intersecting marginalization faced by women and men, while meeting eventual goals of risk pooling, indicated by high coverage and low inequality across population sub-groups.
| S-EPMC10696875 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundSecond-line therapy is frequently utilized for metastatic urothelial carcinoma, but there are limited data to guide this approach. While an assessment of overall survival based on registry data may not capture the impact of second- and third-line therapies on clinical outcome, this may be reflected in relative conditional survival (RCS).MethodsPatients with stage IV urothelial carcinoma diagnosed from 1990-2010 were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) dataset. The association of clinicopathologic variables with disease specific survival (DSS) was explored through univariate and multivariate analyses. DSS in subgroups divided by time period (1990-2000 v 2001-2010) was compared using the Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test. One-year RCS at annual landmarks up to 5 years was compared in subgroups divided by time period.ResultsOf 261,987 patients diagnosed with urothelial carcinoma from 1990-2010, 3,110 patients met criteria for the current analysis. Characteristics of patients diagnosed between 1990 and 2000 (n = 810) and 2001 to 2010 (n = 2,300) were similar and there was no significant difference in DSS between the two groups. On multivariate analysis, older age (age ≥ 80) was associated with shorter DSS (HR 1.79, 95%CI 1.48-2.15), but no association was found between time period of diagnosis and outcome. One-year RCS improved substantially through successive annual landmarks up to 5 years, but no differences were seen in subgroups divided by time of diagnosis.ConclusionsNo difference in RCS was observed amongst patients with stage IV urothelial carcinoma diagnosed from 1990-2000 and 2001-2010. A lack of difference in RCS (more so than cumulative DSS) may reflect a lack of progress in salvage therapies for the disease.
| S-EPMC4550434 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectivesTo evaluate impacts of a residency-based waiting period for health insurance coverage on lived experiences of health and settlement for im/migrant women in British Columbia, Canada.DesignThe IRIS study is a mixed-methods, community-based, qualitative evaluation of recently arrived im/migrant women's access to sexual and reproductive care. In-depth, semistructured interviews were conducted by trained multilingual and multicultural interviewers with lived migration experience in the participant's preferred language.SettingMetro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada from July 2018 to January 2020.ParticipantsData collected from community focus groups (four groups, n=29) of both service providers and im/migrant women was used. Following this, qualitative interviews with service providers (n=10) and im/migrant women (n=47) were conducted. Eligible participants self-identified as women; were aged 18-49 and had arrived in Canada from another country. Eligible providers were employed in the health, social or legal sectors working with im/migrant women.ResultsThe wait period resulted in mistrust and internalised stigma for racialised im/migrant women, for whom the policy resulted in feeling 'undeserving' of care. Resulting administrative burden produced delays and unmet need for care, particularly related to sexual and reproductive healthcare and children's health. Unexpected costs meant difficult choices between survival and care. Negative health outcomes included the inability to family plan, difficulties during pregnancy, as well as hardships related not being able to seek help for sick children. Community-based organisations provided support in many areas but could not fill all gaps produced by this policy.ConclusionsFindings highlight severe, yet commonly overlooked, health inequities produced by a mandatory health coverage wait period within a purportedly 'universal' healthcare system. Health system policies such as mandatory 'waiting periods' produce discriminatory and inequitable outcomes for im/migrant women. Policy reforms towards full 'healthcare for all' are urgently needed to affirm the health and human rights of all im/migrants.
| S-EPMC8344307 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Observational studies in metastatic breast cancer (MBC) show that long-term overall survival (OS) is associated with limited tumor burden, or oligo-MBC (OMBC). However, a uniform definition of OMBC is lacking. In this real-world nationwide cohort, we aimed to define the optimal OMBC threshold and factors associated with survival in patients with OMBC. 3535 patients aged younger than 80 years at diagnosis of de novo MBC in the Netherlands between January 2000 and December 2007 were included. Detailed clinical, therapy, and outcome data were collected from medical records of a sample of the patients. Using inverse-sampling-probability weighting, the analysis cohort (n = 3447) was constructed. We assessed OS according to number of metastases at diagnosis to determine the optimal OMBC threshold. Next, we applied Cox regression models with inverse-sampling-probability weighting to study associations with OS and progression-free survival in OMBC. All statistical tests were 2-sided. Compared with more than 5 distant metastases, adjusted hazard ratios for OS (with 95% confidence interval [CI] based on robust standard errors) for 1, 2-3, and 4-5 metastases were 0.70 (95% CI = 0.52 to 0.96), 0.63 (95% CI = 0.45 to 0.89), and 0.91 (95% CI = 0.61 to 1.37), respectively. Ten-year OS estimates for patients with no more than 3 vs more than 3 metastases were 14.9% and 3.4% (P < .001). In multivariable analyses, premenopausal andperimenopausal status, absence of lung metastases, and local therapy of metastases (surgery and/or radiotherapy) added to systemic therapy were statistically significantly associated with better OS and progression-free survival in OMBC, independent of local therapy of the primary tumor. OMBC defined as MBC limited to 1-3 metastases was associated with favorable OS. In OMBC, local therapy of metastases was associated with better OS, particularly if patients were premenopausal or perimenopausal without lung metastases.
| S-EPMC8099998 | biostudies-literature