OBJECTIVES

Venous thromboembolism (VTE), a frequent and potentially life-threatening disease, represents one of the most important causes of morbidity and mortality in cancer patients. However very few real-world data are available in France on those patients and their hospital management.

METHODS

A retrospective cross-sectional study was performed using the French exhaustive National hospital discharge database (PMSI). Patients with a cancer of interest were included in 2016 and followed until 2018. A total of 14 cancers were selected through ICD-10 codes: Lung, Breast, Upper & Lower Gastrointestinal, Head and Neck-Nose-Throat, Prostate, Pancreas, Gynecological, Urothelial, Testicle, Myeloma, Melanoma, Glioblastoma and Lymphoma. Patients were described and relevant comorbidities were assessed using also ICD-10 codes. VTE rate per cancer of interest was calculated and hospital management and its associated costs were described.

RESULTS

Median age of cancer patients experiencing VTE ranged from 39 (testicle) to 74 years old (urothelial). Between 4% (myeloma) and 71% (testicle) of cancer patients experiencing VTE had metastasis. The VTE rate ranged from 3.1% (breast and prostate) to 14.6% (pancreas) during the 2-year follow-up. Lung cancer was the most important in terms of absolute numbers with 8,339 patients experiencing VTE. Median length of stay for VTE ranged from 5 (testicle) to 10 days (upper GI and glioblastoma). Median cost of stay for VTE ranged from 3,057€ (testicle) to 5,484€ (glioblastoma).

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides a recent and comprehensive description of cancer-associated VTE and their hospital management in France based on large real-world data on VTE patients and management with details for each cancer of interest.