Abstract
BACKGROUND: Adjuvant zoledronic acid (za) appears to improve disease-free survival (dfs) in women with early-stage breast cancer and low levels of estrogen (lle) because of induced or natural menopause. Characterizing the cost-utility (cu) of this therapy could help to determine its role in clinical practice.
METHODS: Using the perspective of the Canadian health care system, we examined the cu of adjuvant endocrine therapy with or without za in women with early-stage endocrine-sensitive breast cancer and lle. A Markov model was used to compute the cumulative costs in Canadian dollars and the quality-adjusted life-years (qalys) gained from each adjuvant strategy, discounted at a rate of 5% annually. The model incorporated the dfs and fracture benefits of adjuvant za. Probabilistic and one-way sensitivity analyses were conducted to examine key model parameters.
RESULTS: Compared with a no-za strategy, adjuvant za in the induced and natural menopause groups was associated with, respectively, $7,825 and $7,789 in incremental costs and 0.46 and 0.34 in qaly gains for cu ratios of $17,007 and $23,093 per qaly gained. In one-way sensitivity analyses, the results were most sensitive to changes in the za dfs benefit. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis suggested a 100% probability of adjuvant za being a cost-effective strategy at a threshold of $100,000 per qaly gained.
CONCLUSIONS: Based on available data, adjuvant za appears to be a cost-effective strategy in women with endocrine-sensitive breast cancer and lle, having cu ratios well below accepted thresholds.
METHODS: Using the perspective of the Canadian health care system, we examined the cu of adjuvant endocrine therapy with or without za in women with early-stage endocrine-sensitive breast cancer and lle. A Markov model was used to compute the cumulative costs in Canadian dollars and the quality-adjusted life-years (qalys) gained from each adjuvant strategy, discounted at a rate of 5% annually. The model incorporated the dfs and fracture benefits of adjuvant za. Probabilistic and one-way sensitivity analyses were conducted to examine key model parameters.
RESULTS: Compared with a no-za strategy, adjuvant za in the induced and natural menopause groups was associated with, respectively, $7,825 and $7,789 in incremental costs and 0.46 and 0.34 in qaly gains for cu ratios of $17,007 and $23,093 per qaly gained. In one-way sensitivity analyses, the results were most sensitive to changes in the za dfs benefit. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis suggested a 100% probability of adjuvant za being a cost-effective strategy at a threshold of $100,000 per qaly gained.
CONCLUSIONS: Based on available data, adjuvant za appears to be a cost-effective strategy in women with endocrine-sensitive breast cancer and lle, having cu ratios well below accepted thresholds.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | e246-e253 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Current Oncology |
| Volume | 22 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Aug 2015 |
Keywords
- Adjuvant therapy
- zoledronic acid
- breast cancer
- bone health
- cost–utility
- economic analyses
