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Lifetime health care costs of oropharyngeal cancer for commercially insured patients in the United States
Author(s) -
Wu ChiFang,
Lairson David R.,
Dahlstrom Kristina R.,
Fokom Domgue Joël,
Fu Shuangshuang,
Sturgis Erich M.,
Chan Wenyaw
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
head and neck
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.012
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1097-0347
pISSN - 1043-3074
DOI - 10.1002/hed.26201
Subject(s) - medicine , health care , cumulative incidence , cancer , incidence (geometry) , population , demography , emergency medicine , environmental health , cohort , physics , sociology , optics , economics , economic growth
Background Incidence of oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) is expected to increase but its health care cost is unknown. The purpose for this study was to estimate the phase‐specific lifetime health care costs of OPC for commercially insured individuals in the United States. Methods We used the Truven MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounter Database to identify our patient population. Cox survival analysis was used to estimate patients' monthly survival probabilities. We determined the ratios of the cumulative costs up to a particular survival probability and the costs from that time point to death for all subjects who died before end of the 5‐year follow‐up period. This relationship was then used to predict phase‐specific lifetime health care costs. Results Our study included 2445 patients with OPC. The predicted phase‐specific lifetime health care costs attributable to OPC were $88 872, $24 038, and $1537 in the initial, continuous, and terminal phases, respectively, among commercially insured patients.