OBJECTIVES:

Follicular lymphoma (FL) is the most common indolent lymphoma with approximately 1,860 new-cases diagnosed in the UK each year. Clinical management ranges from immediate treatment with chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy, to observation ("watch-and-wait (W&W)”), with treatment initiated if/when symptoms develop. Once a patient has achieved a response to therapy, they are considered to be in remission. Numerous cost-utility analyses on FL management have been conducted over the years; however, the utilities used in these studies were either not derived from published studies or were not specific to FL. The objective of this study was to bridge this gap and present the robust utility values specific to FL for use in future economic evaluations.

METHODS: RESULTS:

Utility score differed with disease state: 0.85 (W&W), 0.83 (Treatment) and 0.88 (Remission) using the EQ-5D-5L value set, and 0.79, 0.74 and 0.83 respectively using the crosswalk value set. Patients in remission had a higher QoL compared to those on W&W (p=0.182 and p=0.139 for EQ-5D-5L and EQ-5D-3L values, respectively) and those on treatment (p=0.016 and p=0.002 for EQ-5D-5L and EQ-5D-3L values, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS:

Based on “real-world” contemporary data, this is the first study to measure utility for different phases of the FL pathway, confirming the impact of disease state on QoL. Such robust data should be used in future economic evaluation studies designed to support policy decision making.