Patient and caregiver time burden associated with anaemia treatment in different patient populations

Cancer patients treated with chemotherapy often develop anaemia. This cross-sectional analysis examined the effect of anaemia treatment on patient and caregiver time and activities. The analysis included 9,920 patients from 646 US outpatient oncology centres. Patients completed a survey that contain...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Supportive care in cancer 2006-12, Vol.14 (12), p.1195-1204
Main Authors: Houts, Arthur C, Loh, Geoffrey A, Fortner, Barry V, Kallich, Joel D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Anemia
Anemia - drug therapy
Caregivers
Cross-Sectional Studies
Darbepoetin alfa
Employment
Epoetin Alfa
Erythropoietin - analogs & derivatives
Erythropoietin - therapeutic use
FDA approval
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Neoplasms - complications
Recombinant Proteins
Regression Analysis
Time Factors
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Summary:Cancer patients treated with chemotherapy often develop anaemia. This cross-sectional analysis examined the effect of anaemia treatment on patient and caregiver time and activities. The analysis included 9,920 patients from 646 US outpatient oncology centres. Patients completed a survey that contained questions about travel time, total time for the visit and other impacts. The mean time taken for a single clinic visit to receive anaemia treatment was 2.2 h. On average, patients receiving epoetin alfa required 17.6 h more than patients receiving darbepoetin alfa to complete a course of anaemia treatment. All patients in the study reported that they had to adjust at least one activity as a result of clinic visits. Older patients, women and patients from low-income areas were more likely to be accompanied during clinic visits. Reducing the number of clinic visits needed for anaemia treatment by using darbepoetin alfa may benefit patients.
ISSN:0941-4355
1433-7339
DOI:10.1007/s00520-006-0075-0