OBJECTIVES

While the majority of incident ovarian cancer (OC) cases are diagnosed in women younger than 65 years old, limited evidence regarding the economic burden in this age group exists. We sought to estimate the difference in annual total all-cause and OC-related healthcare costs for adult working-aged metastatic OC (mOC) patients compared to patients without cancer (i.e. controls).

METHODS

We conducted a retrospective claims analysis using the Truven Health MarketScan^® Commercial Claims and Encounters database. Metastatic OC patients were identified between 1/01/2011-12/31/2015 based on having a combination of claims for a secondary malignancy and OC (earliest date of secondary malignancy = index date), ≥18 years old on the index date, ≥12 months of continuous enrollment (CE) pre-index, and ≥1 month of CE post-index. Controls were randomly selected and matched to mOC patients based on age, region, index date, number of months of CE post-index date, and propensity score. Mean annual total all-cause and OC-related costs were estimated and compared for each cohort by using the Kaplan-Meier sample average technique to account for censoring post-index. Confidence intervals were calculated using a bootstrap approach of 1,000 pairs of matched mOC:control patients, simulated with 1,000 iterations.

RESULTS

The mean (95% CI) annual all-cause total costs in the 12-month post-index period were $149,133 ($144,873-153,330) for mOC patients and $36,566 ($33,542-39,548) for controls; the resulting mean (95% CI) difference was $112,567 ($109,589-115,649). The mean (95% CI) annual OC-related total costs in the 12-month post-index period were $91,855 ($87,078-96,595) for mOC patients and $0 ($0) for controls; the resulting mean (95% CI) difference was $91,855 ($87,078-96,595).

CONCLUSIONS

Patients less than 65 years old with mOC have significantly higher costs compared to those without cancer. These findings contribute to the understanding of the burden of illness in a patient population where little evidence exists on the economic consequences of the disease.