Cancer prevalence by phase of care: an indicator for assessing health service needs.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Cancer prevalence (people alive on a certain date in a population who previously had a cancer diagnosis) is expected to increase in the United States and Europe due to improvements in survival and population aging. Examination of prevalence by phase of care allows us to identify subgroups of patients according to their care trajectories, thus allowing us to improve health care planning, resource allocation, and calculation of costs.

Methods

A new method to estimate prevalence by phase of care using grouped data is illustrated. Prevalence is divided into 3 mutually exclusive phases: initial, continuing, and end-of-life. An application to US and Italian data is applied to prevalent cases diagnosed with colon-rectum, stomach, lung, or breast cancer.

Results

SUBMITTER: Gigli A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8326901 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature