OBJECTIVES : To describe patient demographics, clinical status, treatment patterns, healthcare resource use and outcomes (survival, clinical outcomes, disease recurrence, and cost) that are associated with patients with non-resectable advanced (NRA) esophageal cancer (EC) in South Korea (SK).

METHODS : This retrospective, real world, observational study included patients with ≥2 medical records with a primary ICD-10 code of EC from 01/01/2012 through 12/31/2018 in a SK health claims and administrative database covering >90% of the population (Health Insurance Review and Assessment [HIRA]). Patients were followed for ≥30 days from the index date (date of first diagnosis) and patients NRA EC were identified. Demographics, clinical parameters, medication utilization, health care resource utilization, costs, and survival were tracked and reported for the NRA patient cohort.

RESULTS : 1,542 patients met the Inclusion/exclusion criteria for NRA EC and were predominantly male (87.5%) with a mean (SD) age of 69.5 (10.4) years. 21.7 % of patients with NRA EC received chemo-radiation treatment, 7.8% received chemotherapy only and 8.9% received first line (1L) chemotherapy. Only 26.2% of patients who received 1L therapy went on to receive 2L chemotherapy, of whom 32.4% went on to receive 3L chemotherapy. Most NRA EC patients (82.1%) were re-hospitalized with EC as primary admission diagnosis and had a mean (SD) of 3.2 (4.8) annualized number of hospitalizations with a mean (SD) 68.6 (86.5) day length of stay. The most common complications of NRA EC were malnutrition (33.6%) and gastrointestinal (GI) obstruction (30.5%) and the most frequent adverse drug events (ADE) were GI ADEs (58.3%) and pneumonitis (52.3%). Overall survival (OS) from the index date was 39.0%, with a mean (SD) duration of survival of 10.61 (12.2) months.

CONCLUSIONS : Only 39% NRA EC Patients were alive in the post-index of this study with a mean duration of survival of less than 1 year.