Quality Care 2019: End-of-Life Use of Hormonal Agents in Patients With Prostate Cancer
Posted: Thursday, September 12, 2019
Researchers from McGill University and McGill University Health Centre in Quebec, Canada, analyzed public health-care administrative databases to identify patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer who were prescribed a novel hormonal agent in the last month of life after androgen-deprivation therapy. Their primary focus was the use of a novel hormonal agent in the 30 days prior to death, with a secondary focus on the use of a hormonal agent in either 60 or 90 days prior to death or the first prescription of such an agent 30 days prior to death.
“Rates of novel hormonal agent use 30 days before dying were high initially but decreased over the study period,” according to Alice Dragomir, PhD, of McGill University, and colleagues, who presented their findings at the 2019 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Quality Care Symposium in San Diego (Abstract 40). Whether this trend is maintained, given the recent, approval of other oral novel hormonal agents for prostate cancer, requires further assessment, they noted.
The investigators identified 1,316 patients who were prescribed a novel hormonal agent and died between 2012 and 2016. The median age of patients was 78 years. Use of a hormonal agent occurred in 292 patients (22.2%) 30 days prior to death, 464 patients (35.3%) 60 days prior to death, and 575 patients (43.7%) 90 days prior to death. The use of a hormonal agent 30 days prior to death decreased from 44.8% in 2012 to 17.0% in 2016.
Disclosure: The study authors’ disclosure information can be found at coi.asco.org.
