The absence of atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases (ASCVD) and a favorable cardiovascular modifiable risk factor (CRF) are associated with “significantly” lower costs among cancer patients, according to a study published May 1 in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
“These results provide robust estimates for potential healthcare savings as preemptive strategies continue to become integrated into new healthcare delivery models, for increased awareness and prevention of ASCVD, and improvement in cardiovascular risk factor profiles among those with and without diagnosed cancer,” wrote lead author Nasir Khurram, MD, with Yale University and Yale New Haven Health System in New Haven, Connecticut.
Researchers sought to quantify the overall impact of CRF on costs. They hypothesized that a favorable CRF profile would be associated with a significantly lower direct healthcare expenditure and resource utilization in cancer survivors.
Using the 2012–2013 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, the researchers studied more than 27,000 patients, of which, 14 percent had cancer. The researchers noted a 25 percent chance higher prevalence of ASCVD in cancer patients, versus a 14 percent chance in patients without cancer.
The absence of ASCVD and a more favorable CRF profile was associated with lower expenditures across cancer patients.
Among cancer patients, the average healthcare expenditures for patients with ASCVD was $10,852 and $6,436 for without. Among cancer patients without ASCVD, the average healthcare expenditures for patients with optimal CRF profile was $4,782 and poor CRF was $7,256.
“Our results are consistent with prior reports highlighting the increased burden of ASCVD and CRF in cancer survivors,” the authors wrote. “Several contributing factors to this observation include common risk factors, rapidly growing survivorship population with the majority over the age of 65, and potentially cardiotoxic effects from cancer therapies themselves.”
The researchers found that among cancer patients with no diagnosis of ASCVD and patients with an average and optimal CRF, hospitalizations contributed to nearly 15 percent of overall expenditures—a major proportion of that was outpatient visits.
“These findings support the focus of current healthcare reforms for value‐based health care, emphasizing an integrated population health on lowering overall healthcare costs by shifting care from hospital‐based services to ambulatory,” the authors concluded. “Our results provide cost estimates for potential cost savings by incorporating preventive strategies of modifiable CRF for cancer survivors to mitigate progression to ASCVD and reduce the associated comorbid cost burden.”
As a senior news writer for TriMed, Subrata covers cardiology, clinical innovation and healthcare business. She has a master’s degree in communication management and 12 years of experience in journalism and public relations.