OBJECTIVES: Real-world evidence on healthcare resource utilization (HRU) related to disease recurrence in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is lacking. This study evaluated HRU associated with TNBC recurrence among surgically-treated patients.

METHODS: Patients were identified from the OptumHealth Reporting and Insights database and grouped into recurrent vs. non-recurrent cohorts. Patients with recurrence were classified as metastatic or locoregional based on claims observed after surgery. Recurrent and non-recurrent patients were propensity-score matched on baseline characteristics. For recurrent patients, index dates were defined as 30 days before recurrence; for non-recurrent patients, they were randomly assigned. Multivariable regressions compared the incidence rates (IRs) of all-cause and breast cancer-related HRU. HRU was measured up to one year post-index.

RESULTS: 1,170 pairs of TNBC recurrent and non-recurrent patients were included in analyses. Of the recurrent patients, 934 were classified as locoregional and 236 as metastatic. Baseline characteristics were similar between cohorts. During the study period, recurrent patients consistently incurred more all-cause and breast cancer-related HRU. IRs of all-cause inpatient admissions were 3.67 and 10.19 times higher for locoregional and metastatic cohorts, respectively, than the non-recurrence cohort; IRs of all-cause outpatient visits were 1.42 and 1.99 times higher, respectively (all p<0.001). This translated into higher monthly total all-cause healthcare costs for recurrent patients: $13,010 for metastatic patients vs. $5,117 for locoregional patients vs. $1,946 for non-recurrent patients. Regarding breast cancer treatments, the locoregional cohort had the highest breast cancer surgery rate at 0.08 surgeries/person-month (compared with 0.003 surgeries/person-month in non-recurrence cohort, p<0.001), while the metastatic cohort had the highest chemotherapy use rate at 0.37 administrations/person-month (compared with 0.02 administrations/person-month in non-recurrence cohort, p<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: Disease recurrence in TNBC is associated with additional all-cause and breast-cancer-related HRU. Quantifying the magnitude of incremental HRU due to TNBC recurrence highlights the economic burden and unmet medical needs in this area.