Cancer is when abnormal cells divide in an uncontrolled way. Some cancers may eventually spread into other tissues. There are more than 200 different types of cancer. Staging and grading of cancer give an idea of how quickly a cancer may grow and which treatments may work best. Treatments can include surgery, radiotherapy and drug treatments (such as chemotherapy, hormone therapy or targeted cancer drugs).
The purpose of this study is to understand the treatment and outcomes of patients diagnosed with different types of cancer in England. This research will help to characterise the treatments patients receive and their use of healthcare services following treatment. This research will help to provide an up-to-date picture of the treatment and potential unmet needs of patients with these cancers in England.
According to Cancer Research UK, there were around 357,000 new cases of cancer in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2014, however there is limited recent real-world data on cancer patients in the UK. The rationale of this study therefore is to fill this evidence gap and describe the treatment patterns and healthcare resource use of patients with a number of cancers in England. Specifically, the aims are to understand patient characteristics (demographic and clinical) and survival rates. In order to do this, the study will link data from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink, Hospital Episodes Statistics, National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service and Office of National Statistics (ONS) in order to provide the most accurate data on patient diagnoses and clinical characteristics.
The number and proportion of patients receiving systemic anti-cancer treatment in each of the disease areas of interest will be described. Rates of adverse events following the initiation of treatment will be described by person time at risk. The healthcare resource use of patients following initiation of treatment will also be described including rates of GP attendances, hospital admissions and length of hospital stays. This descriptive analysis will provide an up-to-date picture of the treatment and potential unmet needs of patients with these cancers in England.
Incidence rates of adverse events (AEs): Number of new cases, including most common disease related symptoms and treatment related AEs per person
time at risk over the follow-up period. Conditions of interest will be identified from CPRD and HES APC datasets through Read and ICD-10 codes (see Appendix 2 for codes and conditions). Treatment related AEs will be identified after initiation of systemic treatments and follow up time will end after treatment discontinuation.
- Healthcare resource utilisation: During follow-up, usage of healthcare will be summarised in patients with at least 6 months follow-up, including GP visits, referrals to specialists, lab tests performed, hospital admissions, length of inpatient stay, and in-hospital procedures performed.
Meng Wang - Chief Investigator - Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited - UK ( BMS )
Sreeram Ramagopalan - Corresponding Applicant - London School Of Economics & Political Science
Laura McDonald - Collaborator - Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited - UK ( BMS )
HES Admitted Patient Care;NCRAS Cancer Registration Data;NCRAS Systemic Anti-Cancer Treatment (SACT) data;ONS Death Registration Data;Patient Level Index of Multiple Deprivation