Trends in medical care utilization in patients with cancer: An analysis of real-world data in a tertiary hospital in Korea, 2014–2019

Background

Rising costs of cancer treatments challenge even areas with universal health coverage. There's a need to assess current medical care utilization trends among patients with cancer to guide public health policy, resource allocation, and set informed healthcare goals.

Methods

We analyzed the latest trends in medical care utilization by cancer patients in four areas—drugs, radiation therapy (RT), surgery, and diagnostic procedures—using clinical databases extracted from electronic medical records of a tertiary hospital in Korea between 2014 and 2019. Compound adjusted growth rates (CAGR) were computed to capture the annual growth over the study period.

Results

A total of 74,285 cancer patients were identified, with 40.3% (29,962), 14.2% (10,577), 31.1% (23,066), and 92.6% (68,849) of patients having received at least one anticancer agent, RT, surgery, and diagnostic procedure, respectively, over the period. We observed a 1.7-fold increase in the use of targeted · immune-oncology agents (from 6.8% to 11.6%) and a 21-fold increase (from 3.0% in 2014 to 65.7%) in intensity-modulated RT (IMRT) use over the period. In contrast, we observed a continuous decrease in the proportion of patients who underwent surgical treatment from 12.2% in 2014 to 10.9% in 2019. This decrease was particularly noticeable in patients with colon cancer (from 28.5% to 24.2%) and liver cancer (from 4.1% to 2.9%).

Conclusion

From 2014 to 2019, there was a significant rise in the use of targeted · immune-oncology agents and IMRT, alongside a decline in surgeries. While targeted · immune-oncology agents and IMRT may offer promising outcomes, their financial impact and potential for overuse necessitate careful oversight and long-term cost-effectiveness studies.