TY - JOUR
T1 - Associations between muscle mass/strength and healthcare costs/use for patients with cancer
T2 - A systematic literature review
AU - Beaudart, Charlotte
AU - Drost, Ruben M.W.A.
AU - Evers, Silvia M.A.A.
AU - Paulus, Aggie T.G.
AU - Hiligsmann, Mickaël
N1 - Funding Information:
Maastricht University has received funding from EIT Food - Food4Heatlh for the realization of this systematic review. The funder had no influence on the data analysis and presentation, nor on the final content of the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022
PY - 2022/1
Y1 - 2022/1
N2 - Purpose: To review published scientific evidence evaluating the potential associations between muscle mass/strength and healthcare use/costs for patients with cancer. Methods: In accordance with the predefined protocol for a systematic literature review, studies assessing potential associations between muscle mass/strength and healthcare costs/use in cancer patients were searched on MEDLINE (via Ovid) and on the NHS Economic Evaluation Database in September 2021. Study selection, data extraction and quality assessment were performed by two independent reviewers. Results: Of 613 studies identified, five met our inclusion criteria. Various outcomes were investigated: for length of hospital stay, one out of three studies reported an association between lower muscle mass and longer hospital stay; for hospital admission, the two identified studies did not highlight muscle weakness as a predictor of hospital admission; for hospital readmission, one out of two studies reported that patients with lower muscle mass had higher rates of hospital readmission; for costs and cost-effectiveness, results of two randomized controlled trials were mixed, with total costs of the intervention higher in one study and lower in the other, leading to opposite cost-effectiveness results. Conclusion: Only five studies evaluating potential associations between mass/strength and healthcare use/costs have been highlighted within this systematic review. The amount of evidence is limited but the studies are also very heterogeneous in regards of study designs, sample size, and type of population included. This important heterogeneity prevents drawing strong conclusions. Because of limited data available, more high quality longitudinal studies are needed to further investigate the relationship between muscle mass/strength and healthcare costs/use.
AB - Purpose: To review published scientific evidence evaluating the potential associations between muscle mass/strength and healthcare use/costs for patients with cancer. Methods: In accordance with the predefined protocol for a systematic literature review, studies assessing potential associations between muscle mass/strength and healthcare costs/use in cancer patients were searched on MEDLINE (via Ovid) and on the NHS Economic Evaluation Database in September 2021. Study selection, data extraction and quality assessment were performed by two independent reviewers. Results: Of 613 studies identified, five met our inclusion criteria. Various outcomes were investigated: for length of hospital stay, one out of three studies reported an association between lower muscle mass and longer hospital stay; for hospital admission, the two identified studies did not highlight muscle weakness as a predictor of hospital admission; for hospital readmission, one out of two studies reported that patients with lower muscle mass had higher rates of hospital readmission; for costs and cost-effectiveness, results of two randomized controlled trials were mixed, with total costs of the intervention higher in one study and lower in the other, leading to opposite cost-effectiveness results. Conclusion: Only five studies evaluating potential associations between mass/strength and healthcare use/costs have been highlighted within this systematic review. The amount of evidence is limited but the studies are also very heterogeneous in regards of study designs, sample size, and type of population included. This important heterogeneity prevents drawing strong conclusions. Because of limited data available, more high quality longitudinal studies are needed to further investigate the relationship between muscle mass/strength and healthcare costs/use.
KW - Cancer
KW - Healthcare costs
KW - Muscle mass/strength
KW - Systematic review
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85138030413&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ctarc.2022.100633
DO - 10.1016/j.ctarc.2022.100633
M3 - Review article
C2 - 36113192
AN - SCOPUS:85138030413
SN - 2468-2942
VL - 33
JO - Cancer Treatment and Research Communications
JF - Cancer Treatment and Research Communications
M1 - 100633
ER -
