Objectives: Patients with multiple myeloma (MM) often experience debilitating skeletal-related events (SREs: pathologic fracture, radiation to bone [RB], surgery to bone [SB] or spinal cord compression [SCC]). This is the first comprehensive, prospective, observational analysis of healthcare resource utilisation (HRU), independently attributed to SREs by investigators, in patients with MM.
Methods: Eligible patients had lytic bone lesions, life expectancy ≥6 months, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status ≤2 and ≥1 SRE in the 97 days before enrolment. Data were collected retrospectively for 97 days before enrolment and prospectively for 18-21 months.
Results: Altogether, 153 patients were enrolled from Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. Of the 281 observed SREs, 36.7% required inpatient stays (mean duration: 20.6 days per SRE [standard deviation (SD): 22.9]). SB and SCC were the SREs most likely to require stays (72.3% and 50.0% of SREs, respectively); SCC required the longest mean (SD) stay per event (40.5 [40.8] days). Overall, 179 SREs required outpatient visits; this was most likely for RB (74.8%) and least likely for non-vertebral fracture (50.0%).
Conclusions: All SREs were associated with substantial HRU; therefore, preventing SREs in MM will reduce the economic and resource burden on healthcare systems.
Keywords: advanced cancer; bone lesions; healthcare resource utilisation; multiple myeloma; observational research; skeletal-related events.
© 2018 The Authors. European Journal of Haematology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.