The disproportionately high share of interventional resource use in CLBP wNP suggests greater need for new treatment options that more comprehensively manage the range of pain symptoms and signaling mechanisms involved, to help improve patient outcomes and reduce the burden on healthcare systems.

This analysis estimated the overall survival, treatment patterns and economic burden of elderly metastatic triple-negative breast cancer patients. Materials & methods: Patients (≥66 years) with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer were identified from the SEER-Medicare database. Treatment patterns were defined in terms of first, second and third or more regimens. Healthcare resource use and costs were reported over the follow-up period and over the treatment duration of each regimen. Results: A total of 51% of patients did not receive chemotherapy. Taxanes were most commonly used. Median survival was 7 months. The mean cumulative (per patient per month

This study assessed underuse of treatment with hypomethylating agents (HMAs) among patients with newly diagnosed myelodysplastic syndromes with refractory anemia with excess blasts. Of 1190 patients from the Surveillence, Epidemiology, and End Results-Medicare database, 526 (44%) did not use HMAs and 295 (25%) were non-persistent HMA users, whereas 369 (31%) were persistent HMA users. Several clinical and demographic factors were associated with HMA underuse. Background: Recent data suggest significant underutilization of hypomethylating agents (HMAs) that are recommended treatments for patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) with refractory anemia with excess blasts (RAEB). The study objective was to assess the degree of HMA use and predictors of HMA underuse in this population. Patients and Methods: This was a retrospective study including patients diagnosed with the RAEB form of MDS between January 2011 and December 2015 using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-Medicare linked database. Patients were excluded if they had < 1 year of continuous enrollment before diagnosis or received stem cell transplant or lenalidomide during the follow-up period. HMA non-peristence was defined as use of < 4 cycles (3-10 HMA days/28 days) of HMAs or a gap of 90 days between consecutive cycles. Patients were characterized as HMA never-users, HMAepersistent users, and HMAenon-persistent users. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize patient characteristics. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess predictors of HMA underuse and persistence. Results: Of the 1190 patients, 526 (44%) were never-users, 295 (25%) were non-persistent users, and 369 (31%) were persistent users. Age at diagnosis (eg, 66-70 years vs. 80 years; odds ratio [OR], 2.36; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.56-3.56), marital status (single vs. married; OR, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.51-0.89), National Cancer Institute comorbidity index ( 3 vs. 0-1; OR, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.46-0.83), and performance status (poor vs. good; OR, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.51-0.87) were significantly associated with HMA underuse. Conclusion: Several demographic and clinical factors were associated with underuse of HMAs. There is need for a better understanding of suboptimal HMA use and its relationship with clinical response.

The direct medical costs of newly-diagnosed, TMZ-treated GBM in commercially insured patients are substantial, with estimated total cumulative costs of $268,031.