Direct costs associated with the management of mucositis: A systematic review

• Published in: Oral oncology Vol. 118; p. 105296
• Main Authors: Rodrigues-Oliveira, Leticia, Kowalski, Luiz Paulo, Santos, Marcos, Marta, Gustavo Nader, Bensadoun, René-Jean, Martins, Manoela Domingues, Lopes, Marcio Ajudarte, Castro, Gilberto de, William, William Nassib, Chaves, Aline Lauda Freitas, Migliorati, Cesar Augusto, Salloum, Ramzi G., Rodrigues-Fernandes, Carla Isabelly, Kauark-Fontes, Elisa, Brandão, Thaís Bianca, Santos-Silva, Alan Roger, Prado-Ribeiro, Ana Carolina
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.07.2021
• Subjects: Chemotherapy; Combined Modality Therapy; Health Care Costs; Health expenditures; Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation - economics; Hospital charges; Hospital costs; Hospitalization; Humans; Molecular targeted therapy; Mucositis; Mucositis - economics; Mucositis - therapy; Neoplasms - economics; Neoplasms - therapy; Radiotherapy; Systematic review; Health expenditures; Health care costs; Molecular targeted therapy; Chemotherapy; Mucositis; Hospital costs; Hospital charges; Systematic review; Radiotherapy; Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation
• ISSN: 1368-8375; 1879-0593
• DOI: 10.1016/j.oraloncology.2021.105296

•Mucositis is an adverse event following cancer treatment.•Associated with increased use of resources, consultations and hospitalizations.•Costs range from 4,18 USD to values exceeding 299 214,14 USD per patient.•Mucositis exacerbates the economic burden on the patient, health-plan and health-system.•More prospective studies evaluating the costs associated with mucositis are needed. Mucositis is one of the more frequent and costly adverse events following cancer treatment. To evaluate and report the direct economic outcomes associated with the management of mucositis across several cancer treatments we conducted a systematic review according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. Scopus, MEDLINE/PubMed, and Embase were searched electronically and a total of 37 relevant studies were included. The costs attributable to mucositis in the hematopoietic stem cell transplantation setting ranged from 1124,47 US dollars (USD) to 299 214,14 USD per patient. The radiotherapy/chemoradiotherapy/radiotherapy plus molecular targeted therapy accounted for mucositis costs that ranged from 51,23 USD to 33 560,58 USD per patient. Costs for mucositis in the chemotherapy setting ranged from 4,18 USD to 31 963,64 USD per patient. When the cancer treatment was not specified, costs of mucositis ranged from 565,85 USD to as high as 20 279, 12 USD per patient. Mucositis costs from multimodal therapy ranged from 12,42 USD to 5670,46 USD per patient. The molecular targeted therapy setting included only one study and depending on the healthcare providers’ perspective of each country evaluated, mucositis’ costs ranged from 45,78 USD to 3484,91 USD per patient. Mucositis is associated with increased resource use, consultations, hospitalizations and extended hospitalizations, leading to a substantial incremental cost that exacerbates the economic burden on the patient, health plan and health system across several cancer treatments and diagnosis. More studies with a prospective evaluation of the economic costs associated with mucositis management are needed.