Among cancer patients in Brazil, late referral to palliative care is common. Patients who enter palliative care earlier appear to receive less aggressive end-of-life treatment.

No início dos anos 90, observou-se aumento da resistência do Mycobacterium tuberculosis às drogas antituberculose, com alta prevalência entre pacientes HIV+. Neste estudo, foram avaliados a freqüência de resistência, o perfil de sensibilidade do M. tuberculosis às drogas e os fatores predisponentes à resistência entre indivíduos HIV+ nos municípios de Santos, São Vicente, Cubatão, Praia Grande e Guarujá, Estado de São Paulo, Brasil. Foram pesquisados os prontuários de 301 pacientes com resultado de cultura positivo entre 1993 e 2003. A resistência ocorreu em 57 (18,9%) pacientes com a seguinte distribuição: 32 (10,6%) apresentaram tuberculose multirresistente (resistência ao menos à Rifampicina e Isoniazida); 4 (1,3%) casos apresentaram resistência a duas ou mais drogas e 21 (7%) à monorresistência. Observou-se resistência secundária em 70,2% dos casos. Estatisticamente associadas à tuberculose resistente foram: tratamento anterior com drogas antituberculose, tempo de diagnóstico de HIV e hospitalização prévia. Em análise multivariada, apenas tratamento anterior, ajustado por faixa etária, mostrou-se associado (OR = 5,49; IC95%: 2,60-11,60). A ocorrência de resistência em 18,9% dos casos e multirresistência em aproximadamente 10% confirmam a relevância deste problema entre pacientes HIV+ na Baixada Santista.

BackgroundBrazil has sought to use economic evaluation to support healthcare decision-making processes. While a number of health economic evaluations (HEEs) have been conducted, no study has systematically reviewed the quality of Brazilian HEE. The objective of this systematic review was to provide an overview regarding the state of HEE research and to evaluate the number, characteristics, and quality of reporting of published HEE studies conducted in a Brazilian setting.MethodsWe systematically searched electronic databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, Latin American, and Caribbean Literature on Health Sciences Database, Scientific Electronic Library Online, NHS Economic Evaluation Database, health technology assessment Database, Bireme, and Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde Economia da Saúde); citation indexes (SCOPUS, Web of Science), and Sistema de Informação da Rede Brasileira de Avaliação de Tecnologia em Saúde. Partial and full HEEs published between 1980 and 2013 that referred to a Brazilian setting were considered for inclusion.ResultsIn total, 535 studies were included in the review, 36.8% of these were considered to be full HEE. The category of healthcare technologies more frequently assessed were procedures (34.8%) and drugs (28.8%) which main objective was treatment (72.1%). Forty-four percent of the studies reported their funding source and 36% reported a conflict of interest. Overall, the full HEE quality of reporting was satisfactory. But some items were generally poorly reported and significant improvement is required: (1) methods used to estimate healthcare resource use quantities and unit costs, (2) methods used to estimate utility values, (3) sources of funding, and (4) conflicts of interest.ConclusionA steady number of HEE have been published in Brazil since 1980. To improve their contribution to inform national healthcare policy efforts need to be made to enhance the quality of reporting of HEEs and promote improvements in the way HEEs are designed, implemented (i.e., using sound methods for HEEs) and reported.

Palliative care (PC) improves the quality of life of patients with diseases such as cancer, and several studies have shown a reduction in costs among patients who use PC services when compared with those receiving standard oncological treatments. Most studies on PC costs are carried out in high-income countries. There is a lack of these types of studies in middle-income and low-income countries and of better evidence about this intervention.ObjectiveTo describe resource utilisation and costs among patients with cancer in a Brazilian quaternary hospital by cancer localisation and per month of treatment before death.MethodsThis study is a description of retrospective costs to estimate the costs of formal healthcare sector associated with PCs, from the perspective of a public quaternary cancer hospital. Unit costs were estimated using microcosting and macrocosting approaches.Setting/ParticipantsPatients older than 18 years old who died from 2010 to 2013 and who had at least two visits in PC and/or made use of hospice care.ResultsAmong the 2985 patients included in the study, the average cost per patient was US$12 335, ranging from US$8269 for patients with pancreatic cancer to US$19 395 for patients with brain cancer. The main costing item was hospital admission (47.6% of the total cost), followed by hospice care (29.5%) and medical and other supplies (11.1%).ConclusionsThe study clarified the direct medical costs and the profile and use of resources of patients with cancer who need PC, and can help in the planning and allocation of resources in cancer care.