Concordance with NCCN treatment guidelines: Relations with health care utilization, cost, and mortality in breast cancer patients with secondary metastasis

Abstract

Background: The impact of National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) treatment guideline concordance on costs, health care utilization, and mortality for patients with breast cancer and secondary metastases is unknown. Methods: From 2007 to 2013, women with early-stage breast cancer who received treatment for secondary metastases (n = 5651) were evaluated for first recorded systemic therapy concordance with NCCN guidelines within the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program–Medicare linked database. Generalized linear and mixed effects models evaluated factors associated with nonconcordance and the relation between concordance status and health care utilization and costs. Mortality risk was estimated with Cox regression. Results: Eighteen percent of the patients received nonconcordant therapy, with the most common being single-agent, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)–targeted therapy (36%), therapy mismatched with the estrogen receptor/HER2 status (11%), unapproved bevacizumab regimens (10%), and adjuvant regimens in a metastatic setting (6%). A younger age, a hormone receptor–negative status, and a HER2-positive status were associated with nonconcordance (P