The cost of cancer care in India requires careful reporting and interpretation

Background The cost of breast cancer care rises with higher stage at diagnosis; however, there are no real-world data regarding the cost of care according to breast cancer subtypes. This study aimed to estimate direct medical costs for early breast cancer care in the first 3 years after diagnosis according to subtype and stage, using patient-level data. Methods Women with newly diagnosed stage I–III breast cancer, admitted in 2012 to a Portuguese cancer centre were prospectively followed within the NEON-BC cohort. The use of health resources was obtained from each patient’s clinical and administrative records and costs were computed. Tumours were classified into the classic subtypes (hormone receptor-positive (HR+)/HER2−; HER2-positive (HER2+); triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC)) and surrogate intrinsic subtypes (luminal A-like; luminal B-like; HER2 enriched; basal like). Results A total of 703 patients were included: 48.9% had stage I, 35.8% stage II and 15.2% stage III breast cancer; 76.4% had HR+/HER2−, 15.9% HER2+ and 7.7% TNBC. Median cost of care was €9215/patient in stage I, €13 019/patient in stage II and €15 011/patient in stage III and €10 540/patient in HR+/HER2−, €11 224/patient in TNBC and €41 513/patient in HER2+ breast cancer. Systemic therapy accounted for 69.2% of the cost of care among patients with HER2+, 12.0% among HR+/HER2− and 7.5% among TNBC patients. Similar differences were observed across surrogate intrinsic subtypes. Conclusions The cost of early breast cancer care was mainly driven by the tumour subtype and, to a lesser extent, by stage. The median cost of care was fourfold higher among patients with HER2+ tumours compared with those with HR+/HER2− and TNBC. These data provide information for the economic evaluation of innovative treatments for early breast cancer and highlight the weight that targeted systemic therapy might have in the overall cost of care among patients with early breast cancer.

In the last two decades, India has witnessed a substantial increase in the incidence of breast cancer and associated mortality. Studies on the prevalence of molecular subtypes of breast cancer in India have reported inconsistent results. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review of observational studies to document the prevalence of molecular subtypes of breast cancer. A complete literature search for observational studies was conducted in MEDLINE and EMBASE databases using key MeSH terms ((molecular classification) OR (molecular subtypes)) AND (breast cancer)) OR (breast carcinoma)) AND (prevalence)) AND (India). Two reviewers independently reviewed the retrieved studies. The screened studies satisfying the eligibility were included. The quality of included studies was assessed using the selected STROBE criteria. The overall pooled prevalence of luminal A, luminal B, HER2-enriched, and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) subtypes of breast cancer were 0.33 (95% CI 0.23-0.44), 0.17 (95% CI 0.12-0.23), 0.15 (95% CI 0.12-0.19), and 0.30 (95% CI 0.27-0.33), respectively. Subgroup analyses were performed by mean age of patients, time period, region, and sample size of the study. Among molecular subtypes of breast cancer, luminal A was the most prevalent subtype followed by TNBC, luminal B, and HER2-enriched subtypes. The overall prevalence of TNBC in India is high compared to other regions of the world. Additional research is warranted to identify the determinants of high TNBC in India. Differentiating TNBC from other molecular subtypes is important to guide therapeutic management of breast cancer.

Purpose Dose-dense chemotherapy improves survival but with increased toxicity and treatment-related cost. We report the prevalence of anemia and the possible risk factors associated with chemotherapy-related anemia and determine the cost and time-delay associated with transfusion requirement in Indian patients with non-metastatic breast cancer on dose-dense preoperative chemotherapy. Methods In this study, triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients were treated preoperatively with docetaxel and cyclophosphamide alternating with epirubicin and cisplatin every 2 weeks. Patients were evaluated for anemia pre- and post-chemotherapy. We examined trends in the red cell indices, transfusion requirement, time to transfusion, as well as risk factors associated with transfusion during treatment, along with delay in treatment due to anemia and the additional cost incurred. Results A total of 116 consecutive women with nonmetastatic TNBC were treated with preoperative chemotherapy. The median age was 44.5 years. 56.1% of patients had stage III disease. Anemia was detected at baseline in 54 (46.5%) patients with mild anemia (10–12 g/dl) in 42 (36.2%) patients and moderate anemia (8–10 g/dl) in 12 (10.3%) patients. During the course of treatment, all patients developed anemia. A total of 44 patients (37.9%) required transfusion during chemotherapy, with 55(47.4%) patients developing grade 1–2 anemia and 40 (34.5%) patients developing grade 3 anemia. The factors associated with anemia requiring transfusion were a steeper decline in hemoglobin after two cycles (OR 1.65, p = 0.02), low-grade tumor (OR 2.48, p = 0.03), and thrombocytopenia grade 3 or 4 (OR 4.35, p = 0.034), of which tumor grade and thrombocytopenia remained significant in multivariate analysis. Nearly one-fourth of the study population had a delay between two cycles of chemotherapy due to anemia. A median additional cost of INR 7000 was incurred among those requiring blood transfusion. Conclusion Anemia is a common toxicity associated with dose-dense chemotherapy during curative breast cancer treatment leading to delay in treatment and increased cost. Low-grade tumor, grade 3 or 4 thrombocytopenia, and grade 2 or higher anemia after two cycles of chemotherapy are risk factors for blood transfusions during treatment.