Quantitative basis for planning the costs of medical care in haemato-oncology: analyses and predictions for 2017 – methodology and data sources

I. Data sources

Predictions are based on valid population-based data which have been obtained from legally stipulated administrators (Institute of Health Information and Statistics of the Czech Republic, Czech Statistical Office). Data are analysed in their de-identified form, i.e. without direct and indirect identification of an individual. In particular, the following sources are used:

Sources of demographic population-based data

As part of monitoring of the population development, the national statistical authority (Czech Statistical Office, CZSO) processes data on demographic structure of the Czech Republic’s population. These data are available on the CZSO website (https://www.czso.cz/csu/czso/population) and cover the main demographic characteristics of the Czech population, such as the total number of inhabitants, detailed age structure, life expectancy characteristics, or even the projection of age structure development of the Czech population up to 2050.

The Death Records Database is the primary source of population-based data on cancer mortality in the Czech Republic; this database is also administered by the Czech Statistical Office. Standardised Death Certificates have been designed to collect precise data on the cause of death in each individual, and causes of death are classified according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). The primary cause of death is assigned to each deceased person; these causes of death are subsequently used in official statistical outputs on population-based mortality according to causes of death, as provided by individual countries. These statistics are available in outputs of national statistical authorities, as well as in international databases of Eurostat (official European statistics) and the World Health Organization.

Czech National Cancer Registry (CNCR)

The registration of malignant tumours is enshrined in the Czech legislation and is obligatory. The Czech National Cancer Registry (CNCR) is administered by the Institute of Health Information and Statistics of the Czech Republic (IHIS), which is responsible for cohesion of the registry as regards its methodology and contents. The IHIS regularly checks the correctness of submitted data, distributes the methodology, processes, and provides and publishes statistical outputs, and defines access rights to authorised users. The Coordination Centre for Departmental Medical Information Systems (CCDMIS) processes data from the CNCR on nationwide level. The CCDMIS is responsible for smooth operation of the registry, the database status, technical support and data security. It also provides information technology (HW, SW, and communication), authentication and authorisation. The CNCR Council is an advisory body and expert guarantor to CNCR. Members of the CNCR Council most typically include representatives of IHIS, the regional CNCR centres, the Czech Ministry of Health, and the Czech Society for Oncology.

CNCR has become an indispensable part of the complex cancer care, containing more than 2.2 million records over the period 1976–2014, with a representative coverage (100%) of the entire Czech population. In other words, CNCR contains detailed records on all individuals who have been diagnosed with cancer since 1976; these records are based on birth numbers (a number unique to each Czech citizen) and involve data describing malignant tumours and diagnostic details, data on patients’ treatment, as well as data on post-treatment follow-up, among others. Data from CNCR – in a limited and aggregated form – can be viewed and analysed by anyone thanks to the project SVOD (System for Visualisation of Oncology Data), which is available on-line at www.svod.cz. The project SVOD is focused on interactive descriptive analyses which make it possible for the user either to explore epidemiological trends in cancer diagnoses of his/her choice, or to view automatically prepared presentations dealing with several important topics.

Expert panel of the Czech Society for Oncology

Some information, used mainly in the population-based modelling of numbers of cancer patients and in the assessment of medical care results and costs, cannot be obtained from available population-based sources neither from published clinical trials. Time trends in the probability of relapse/progression of primary tumours in different clinical stages, or the probability of administration of higher lines of cancer therapy in patients with different disease burdens are just two examples. In these cases, expert opinions and estimates by an expert panel of CSO are applied to calculated predictions and estimates. Data are obtained in the form of authorised electronic forms or in printed form. The expert panel processes these materials based on clearly formulated and data-linked questions. Panel members process these materials individually, without mutual consultations.

The so-called clinical adjustment of population-based estimates is a very valuable input by the expert panel into the entire system of monitoring of costly therapy. Not all newly diagnosed cancer patients can be treated with cancer therapy. Contraindications can involve the patient’s older age, his/her general state of health, or an advanced stage of his/her tumour. The expert panel adjusts (i.e. decreases) population-based estimates of patient numbers with respect to these facts. 

II. Methodology of predictive assessment of cancer epidemiology in the Czech Republic

Definition of a reference dataset for clinically relevant predictions of cancer burden

The reliability of analyses is based on exact definition and specification of the employed dataset. In order to define a dataset for health care results and costs, data from population-based registries must be drawn with certain limitations:

  • Data must be recent enough, reflecting the current situation of the Czech health care system; historical trends might be very misleading.
  • Most importantly, data employed for analyses must describe the patients who were actually treated in a health care facility (the number of malignant tumours diagnosed at autopsy does have its epidemiological significance, but it does not influence the cost assessment in any way).

The Czech National Cancer Registry has been employed for our analyses. The extent of the analysed data has been limited to the period 1995–2014, as this recent CNCR data contains valid records corresponding with the recent versions of TNM classification. Data from this period represent a sample large enough to provide trustworthy analyses (Figure 1). Records of patients with incomplete diagnosis resulting from refusal to treatment, complications or early death must be removed, as this data would distort the analyses of cancer treatment costs. In accordance with literature, early death was defined as a death which occurred within one month of the diagnosis.

The audit of available population-based data, therefore, results in a reference dataset of high-quality and trustworthy records which describe the treatment and health care results in patients in which diagnosis was properly completed.

Brief methodical description of performed calculations

The objective of these predictive models is to reach a reliable estimate of the number of patients living in a given period and needing cancer treatment (Figure 2). The proportion of clinical stages in living patients, combined with the knowledge of possible treatment scenarios, makes it possible to estimate expected costs. The following estimates are performed prospectively, as data from population-based registries are always available with a certain delay:

  1. Estimate of incidence rates. Estimates were made separately for clinical stages and in relevant stratifications according to age groups. The methodology is based on long-term epidemiological trends, adjusting them with respect to demographic changes in the population. The Poisson regression model with estimates supplemented by confidence intervals (prediction intervals) was employed. Apart from the extrapolation with a regression model, extrapolation of the mean value of cancer burden in a recent period was considered for diagnoses with a non-specific epidemiological trend.
  2. Estimate of prevalence rates. The prospective estimate of prevalence rate combines the estimated number of newly diagnosed patients in the years to come with the probability of x-year survival in patients diagnosed in the past. This multi-component estimate, therefore, combines regression estimates of the incidence rates with analyses of x-year survival, taking into consideration that only a certain proportion of patients diagnosed in the past would survive in the assessed year (total prevalence rate).

Figure 1. The multi-component population-based estimate of the number of patients

Localisation of estimates for individual regions of the Czech Republic

All estimates (i.e. those for the entire Czech population) were subsequently localised for catchment areas of comprehensive cancer centres, using the same methodical approaches. In particular, these partial calculations take into consideration the epidemiological situation in a given region, from which weights are derived to distribute the population-based prediction of incidence and mortality rates. 

Risk analysis and the probability of bias

All predictions given below have resulted from population-based epidemiological data. This fact implies that there is a certain probability of inaccuracies; therefore, all point estimates are supplemented with a 90% confidence interval. Each individual point estimate must be interpreted inseparably from these probability limits which specify its statistical reliability and can prevent possible misinterpretations. The accuracy of predictions at regional level can be affected in some less common diagnoses and clinical stages, due to insufficient sample size. Despite this fact, predictions have been made using the strictly same methodology in all subsets, and regional estimates have been calculated in such way that their total equals the population-based estimates.

III. References

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