Charlotte Palmqvist

Societal costs of ovarian cancer in a population-based cohort – a cost of illness analysis

The societal cost associated with ovarian cancer (OC) is not well known. Increasing costs for new treatments and/or the impact of organizational changes motivates these costs to be described and communicated. This study aims to evaluate the cost of illness of OC in a population-based cohort. All patients diagnosed with ovarian, fallopian tube, primary peritoneal cancer, and serous cancer of undesignated primary site (UPS) in 2011-2012 were followed for six years. Direct costs, i.e., costs for health care expenditures, were gathered from the regional healthcare database. Information on indirect costs, i.e., costs of loss of production due to sick leave, was retrieved from Statistics Sweden. Sub-group analyses were conducted regarding stage, income levels, residential area, and diagnosis. The cost of illness for all stages during the six years of follow-up was €201,086 per patient, where indirect costs constituted 43.7%. The mean cost of illness per year per patient for all stages was €33,514. Direct costs were higher in advanced stages compared to early stages for every year from diagnosis. During the first two years, there were no differences in indirect costs between early and advanced stages. However, during the third year there was a difference with higher indirect costs in advanced stages. There was no difference in direct costs depending on income levels. Regarding residential area, there was a difference in the outpatient cost during the index and second year with higher costs when chemotherapy and follow-up were provided at county hospitals, compared to at the tertiary hospital. Indirect costs constituted a large part of the cost of illness over 6 years from diagnosis. This could indicate that even though treatment costs can be expected to rise with the introduction of new therapies, the societal cost may decrease when survival increase.

Complications after advanced ovarian cancer surgery—A population‐based cohort study

AbstractIntroductionSurgical complications after primary or interval debulking surgery in advanced ovarian cancer were investigated and associations with patient characteristics and surgical outcomes were explored.Material and methodsA population‐based cohort study including all women with ovarian cancer, FIGO III–IV, treated with primary or interval debulking surgery, 2013–2017. Patient characteristics, surgical outcomes and complications according to the Clavien–Dindo (CD) classification system ≤30 days postoperatively, were registered. Uni‐ and multivariable regression analyses were performed with severe complications (CD ≥ III) as endpoint. PFS in relation was analyzed using the Kaplan–Meier method.ResultsThe cohort included 384 women, where 304 (79%) were treated with primary and 80 (21%) with interval debulking surgery. Complications CD I–V were registered in 112 (29%) patients and CD ≥ III in 42 (11%). Preoperative albumin was significantly lower in the CD ≥ III cohort compared with CD 0–II (P = 0.018). For every increase per unit in albumin, the risk of complications decreased by a factor of 0.93. There was no significant difference in completed chemotherapy between the cohorts CD 0–II 90.1% and CD ≥ III 83.3% (P = 0.236). In the univariable analysis; albumin <30 g/L, primary debulking surgery, complete cytoreduction and intermediate/high surgical complexity score (SCS) were associated with CD ≥ III. In the following multivariable analysis, only intermediate/high SCS was found to be an independent significant prognostic factor. Low (n = 180) vs intermediate/high SCS (n = 204) showed a median PFS of 17.2 months (95% confidence interval [CI] 15.2–20.7) vs 21.5 months (95% CI 18.2–25.7), respectively, with a significant log‐rank; P = 0.038.ConclusionsAdvanced ovarian cancer surgery is associated with complications but no significant difference was seen in completion of adjuvant chemotherapy when severe complications occur. Importantly, our study shows that intermediate/high SCS is an independent prognostic risk factor for complications. Low albumin, residual disease and primary debulking surgery were found to be associated with severe complications. These results may facilitate forming algorithms in the decision‐making procedure of surgical treatment protocols.