Cumulative Cost Pattern Comparison of Prostate Cancer Treatments." American Cancer Society 109 (2006): 518-527

BACKGROUND. Studies that compare prostate cancer treatment costs show wide variation. None compare all contemporary treatment costs, and most focus on initial treatment costs. The authors compared healthcare utilization and cost pat-terns of prostate cancer treatments over a span of 5.5 years in 4553 newly diag-nosed patients stratified by age and risk group. METHODS. Contemporary treatment and evaluation patterns for prostate cancer were identified by using CaPSURE, a national disease registry of men with prostate cancer that included ongoing clinical data collection from 31 academic and commu-nity urology practices and biennial patient-reported outcome questionnaires that included demography, medical condition, comorbidity, risk measures, and health-care utilization. Costs of outpatient visits, medications, and hospitalizations were applied from various national sources. Recurrent events analysis (MCF) accounted for left and right censorship. A mixed effects regression model with bootstrapping for skewed cost data quantified the relation betweenMCF cost, age, and risk. RESULTS. Prostate-related costs in the first 6 months after treatment were $11,495