OBJECTIVES

To determine if prostate cancer is associated with greater health care utilization,cost and lesser Health Related Quality of Life(HRQoL) relative to a matched group of individuals with other types of cancer.

METHODS

This study was a retrospective, cross-sectional analysis of the pooled 2011-2015 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). Patients diagnosed with prostate cancer (Clinical Classification System: 29) were matched with patients diagnosed with other types of cancer (Clinical Classification System: 11-28 and 32-34) using propensity score matching. Utilization and costs included inpatient care, outpatient care, and emergency room (ER), and prescription drugs. Descriptive statistics were used to compare the baseline characteristics between the two groups before and after matching. Generalized Linear Models with poisson and gamma distribution were used to determine differences in health care utilization and costs, respectively. The HRQoL was measured in terms of Physical Component Summary (PCS) and Mental Component Summary (MCS) scores using Short Form-12. All analyses were conducted using SAS 9.4 (SAS institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA).

RESULTS

From 2011-2015, 382 cases of prostate cancer (weighted N=442,446,2) and 2,558 cases of other cancer (weighted N=3,019,396,6) were identified. The prostate cancer grouped individuals were less likely to have outpatient visits (IRR:0.48,p<0.001) and inpatient visits (IRR:0.72,p<0.001) compared to the other cancer group. Additionally, the average healthcare expenditure among individuals with prostate cancer was lower for inpatient visits ($3521.9 vs $9480.1, p<0.001), outpatient visits ($900 vs $3302.4, p=0.001), office based visits ($2912.4 vs $3302.4, p=0.38, and ER visits ($265.2 vs $447.8, p=0.04) compared to the other cancer group. Prostate cancer patients also had higher HRQoL than matched controls (other cancer group) on both the Short Form-12 metrics (MCS score: 48.35 vs 28.41, p<0.001; PCS score:38.79 vs 23.46, p<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Prostate cancer group was associated with lower health care utilization and cost, and higher HRQoL compared to the other cancer group.