@article{3119943,
    title = "End-of-life cost for lung cancer patients in Greece: A hospital-based retrospective study",
    author = "Kokkotou, E. and Stefanou, G. and Syrigos, N. and Gourzoulidis, G. and Ntalakou, E. and Apostolopoulou, A. and Charpidou, A. and Kourlaba, G.",
    journal = "Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research",
    year = "2021",
    volume = "10",
    number = "4",
    pages = "315-324",
    publisher = "Future Medicine Ltd",
    issn = "2042-6305, 2042-6313",
    doi = "10.2217/cer-2020-0167",
    keywords = "aged;  Article;  cancer patient;  cancer radiotherapy;  cancer registry;  cancer staging;  cancer survival;  female;  follow up;  Greece;  health care cost;  health care utilization;  hospital patient;  human;  lung adenocarcinoma;  lung cancer;  major clinical study;  male;  non small cell lung cancer;  outpatient;  overall survival;  priority journal;  retrospective study;  small cell lung cancer;  terminal care;  death;  epidemiology;  hospital;  lung tumor;  non small cell lung cancer, Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung;  Death;  Greece;  Hospitals;  Humans;  Lung Neoplasms;  Male;  Retrospective Studies;  Terminal Care",
    abstract = "Objective: The aim of the present study was to estimate the cost of treating patients with lung cancer at their end-of-life (EOL) phase of care in Greece. Materials and methods: A hospital-based retrospective study was conducted in the Oncology Unit of Sotiria' Hospital, in Athens, Greece. All lung cancer patients who died between 1 January 2015 and 31 December 2018 with at least 6 months follow-up were enrolled in the study. Healthcare resource utilization data, including inpatient and outpatient ones, during the last 6 months before death was extracted from a registry kept in the unit. This data were combined with the corresponding local unit costs to calculate the 6, 3 and 1-month EOL cost in €2019 values. Results: A total of 122 patients met the inclusion criteria. The mean (standard deviation) age at diagnosis was 67.8 (8.9) years with 78.7% of patients being male and 55.0% diagnosed at stage IV. About 52.5% of patients had been diagnosed with adenocarcinoma, 28.7% with squamous non-small-cell lung cancer types and 18.9% with small-cell-lung cancer. The median overall survival of these patients was 10.8 months. During the EOL periods, the mean cost/patient in the last 6, 3 and 1 month were €7665, €3351 and €1009, respectively. Pharmaceutical cost was the key driver of the total cost (75% of the total 6-month) followed by radiation therapy (16.2%). The median EOL 6-month cost was marginally statistically significantly higher among patients with adenocarcinoma (€9031) compared with squamous (€6606) and to small-cell-lung cancer (€5474). Conclusion: The findings of the present study indicate that lung cancer treatment incurs high costs in Greece, mainly attributed to pharmaceutical expenses, even at the EOL phase. © 2021"
}