OBJECTIVES:The aims of this study were to assess epidemiology of multiple myeloma (MM) and to describe treatment patterns and economic burden among MM patients in an Italian clinical setting.

METHODS:A retrospective analysis of the administrative databases of three Italian Local Health Units was performed. Inclusion criteria were as follows: hospitalization discharge with primary or secondary diagnosis for MM between 1 January 2011 and 30 June 2014, and the presence of pharmacological treatment for MM. Index date (ID) was the date a patient met the inclusion criteria. All included patients were characterized during 24 months before ID and followed up for 24 months after ID. Treatment pattern, transplant procedure, hospitalizations and outpatient services were analyzed over the follow-up period. Costs analysis included drugs, hospitalizations, with and without transplant procedure, and outpatient services.

RESULTS:Of the 547 included MM patients (mean age 68.0 years, 52.3% male), 127 were incident patients (mean age 69.4 years, 56.7% male), and 420 were prevalent patients (mean age 67.6 years, 51.0% male). Average (±SD) follow-up period was 17.3±9.4 months. 355 of prevalent MM patients received a specific treatment; first line treatment mainly consisted in bortezomib (17.2%) or lenalidomide (5.1%). 121 of the included MM patients underwent a transplant procedure during follow-up and 214 died. Hospitalization costs among all MM patients accounted for 57.8% of total cost; mean cost per patient for hospitalizations with transplant procedure was €12,506.38, €9,415.51 for hospitalizations without transplant procedure, €12,147.82 for drugs, €3,851.65 for outpatient services. Drug and outpatient service costs were higher in incident patients than prevalent, while hospitalization cost was higher in prevalent patients than incident.

CONCLUSIONS:Results from this real-world study showed characteristics of incident and prevalent MM patients and the type of treatment received. Furthermore, costs for MM patients were mainly driven by hospitalizations with and without transplant procedure.