Disease Burden of Epithelial Ovarian Cancer in Chinese Patients Under Current Care: A Model Simulation Study

OBJECTIVES: To quantitate the disease burden of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) in Chinese patients under current care.

METHODS: A disease burden model was constructed to simulate lifetime health outcomes and direct medical costs in Chinese patients with EOC and the age-matched Chinese general female population. Markov model was used to simulate the disease progression of EOC under current care. Systemic literature search was conducted in main bibliographic databases to identify appropriate evidence for estimating model inputs. The constructed disease burden model was used to conduct base case analysis for the disease burden measured by the differences in estimated life expectancy, quality adjusted life years (QALY), and lifetime direct medical costs between EOC model cohort and the matched general population. One-way sensitivity analysis (OWSA) and probabilistic sensitivity analysis (PSA) were conducted to assess the uncertainty of the measured disease burden.

RESULTS: The created model cohort of Chinese patients with EOC had an average age of 53.4 years and a high proportion tumor stage III at diagnosis (52.6%). Relative to the matched general female population, the Chinese patients with EOC were associated with reduced 10.6 life years (LY) lower (9.8 LY vs. 20.4 LY), reduced 11.1 QALY (7.1 QALY vs. 18.2 QALY), but increased ¥257,097 for lifetime direct medical costs (¥369,286 vs. ¥112,207). The disease burden of EOC in Chinese patients was mainly driven by the distribution of tumor stage III at diagnosis, the diagnosis age, and the maintenance therapy for advanced EOC. The PSA confirmed the measured disease burden outcomes with limited 95% credible interval (reduced LY: median 10.41, 95% CI 8.86 to 12.04; reduced QALY: median 11.0 QALY, 95% CI 9.8 QALY to 12.4 QALY; increased lifetime direct medical costs: median ¥261,568, 95% CI ¥198,389, ¥347,458).

CONCLUSIONS: The Chinese patients with EOC have substantial disease burden that requires effective strategies for control.