Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31008147›Full record

ArticleHealth services research and managerial epidemiology

End-of-Life Health-Care Cost of Patients With Lung Cancer: A Retrospective Study.

Kyriakos Souliotis, Chara Kani, Androniki Marioli, Aggeliki Kamboukou, Aikaterini Prinou, Konstantinos Syrigos, Sophia Markantonis

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Article in Health services research and managerial epidemiology. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Kyriakos SouliotisFaculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of Peloponnese, Corinth, Greece.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1624-9444
Chara KaniFaculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of Peloponnese, Corinth, Greece.
Androniki MarioliOncology Unit GPP, Sotiria General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
Aggeliki KamboukouLaboratory of Biopharmaceutics-Pharmacokinetics, Faculty of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
Aikaterini PrinouLaboratory of Biopharmaceutics-Pharmacokinetics, Faculty of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
Konstantinos SyrigosOncology Unit GPP, Sotiria General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
Sophia MarkantonisLaboratory of Biopharmaceutics-Pharmacokinetics, Faculty of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionLung cancer exerts a significant societal and health-care-related economic burden and chemotherapy drugs constitute a major factor of total direct cost. The aim of the present study was to assess the direct health-care cost of lung cancer in Greece by conducting a retrospective analysis on the last 6 months of life.

methodsThe present study was based on both the medical data and costs of treatment of deceased adult patients who suffered from terminal stage IIIB/IV lung cancer (non-small cell lung cancer and small cell lung cancer) during the last 6 months of their life. The study's protocol was approved by the Hospital's Research Ethics Committee. Costs included outpatient (outpatient services) and inpatient (inpatient services) costs. Descriptive statistics were mainly used for statistical analysis.

resultsThe files of 144 patients were analyzed. The total cost of health-care services for the study population during the last 6 months of life was attributed by 57% to inpatient services, whereas chemotherapy costs (74%) comprised the largest proportion of the total inpatient cost. The highest expenditure for outpatient services was attributed to concomitant medication (59%), followed by the cost of tests (21%) and radiotherapy (20%).

conclusionsThe results of our study indicate that both inpatient and outpatient costs were substantial. The main inpatient and outpatient cost drivers were chemotherapy and concomitant medication, respectively. A more comprehensive nationwide study would be useful to validate our results and to include also indirect costs of cancer care in Greece.

Indexed as

direct health-care costsend-stage lung cancerhealth servicesnon-small cell lung cancersmall cell lung cancer

Identifiers

PMID31008147
PMCPMC6458659

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.