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Aim: To describe real-world treatment patterns/outcomes among patients with HER2+ metastatic breast cancer (MBC). Materials & methods: Real-world treatments and overall survival (OS) were evaluated among adult women diagnosed with HER2+ MBC, with and without brain metastases (BMs), between 1 June 2012 and 31 May 2018 using electronic medical records from the Definitive Oncology Dataset. Results: Among 372 patients, 69% initiated first-line trastuzumab plus pertuzumab-based therapy; many therapy combinations were utilized in the second- to fourth-line. During follow-up (median 24.8 months), 18% of patients died (22% with and 16% without BMs). Mean OS was shortest among patients with BMs at MBC diagnosis in the third- and fourth-line. Conclusion: OS was poor, and no clear standard of care was observed among patients with HER2+ MBC progressing on trastuzumab-based therapies.

Examine whether reading medium, digital versus print, affects reading comprehension, and whether this is influenced by individual factors or text/task characteristics.

BackgroundCombination axitinib plus pembrolizumab is a standard of care in the first-line treatment of patients with advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC). This analysis describes the clinical characteristics, treatment management and outcomes of patients receiving first-line (1L) axitinib plus pembrolizumab in a real-world US setting.MethodsElectronic health record (EHR)-derived data from the Flatiron Health Database, which includes ~280 cancer clinics across 800 sites in the US, were used. Patients had confirmed Stage IV or metastatic RCC and initiated 1L axitinib plus pembrolizumab on or after 1/1/2018 to 3/31/2021. Outcomes were best overall response rate; real-world progression-free survival (rwPFS) and overall survival (OS) at landmark time periods (3, 6, 9, and 12 months). Therapy management (TM) included dose hold, dose change and discontinuation. Data are reported as medians (IQR) unless otherwise noted.Results355 patients received 1L axitinib plus pembrolizumab, with median follow-up of 9.7 (0.1–24.3) months. IMDC Risk Score was favorable, intermediate, and poor in 27 (7.6%), 126 (35.5%), and 76 (21.4%) patients, respectively (23.4% intermediate/poor, 12.1% unknown). 270 patients (76.1%) received only 1L axitinib plus pembrolizumab and 85 patients (24.3%) received ≥1 subsequent line of treatment; cabozantinib was the most frequent subsequent line of treatment (47.9%). rwPFS at 3 months and 1 year was 77.2% and 39.3%, respectively. OS ranged from 90.8% at 3 months to 73.5% at 1 year. Best overall response rate was 47.9%. Toxicity was the most common reason for first TM events of dose hold, change and discontinuation at, 58.6%, 58.5%, and 45.8%, respectively. Over 80% of patients with TM were able to continue with 1L axitinib plus pembrolizumab.ConclusionsIn a real-world setting, axitinib plus pembrolizumab was effective as a 1L treatment for patients with advanced RCC. Dose holds, changes and discontinuation were driven by treatment-related toxicity. Dose holds may represent an effective TM strategy to toxicity.

This thesis examines how four English-language Canadian news organizations reported on the Black Lives Matter protests that sprung up after the killing of George Floyd in 2020. A framing analysis of 55 articles from four news outlets in two of the countries’ largest English-speaking cities examined how the news media used language, framing, and sources to report on the protests. I coded for several key variables, including overall tone, sourcing, and the presence of marginalizing and legitimizing framing devices. This thesis found that all four news outlets were more likely to use an overall positive tone to frame the protests and protesters by emphasizing peacefulness and highlighting the underlying reason for the protests. The results replicated previous research on the Black Lives Matter protests by Elmasry and el-Nawawy (2017), which found that most of the news articles from their sample framed the protests positively. My findings also determined that government officials were quoted the same amount as protesters, while police were under-quoted compared to past research. Future research should continue to examine how the Canadian news media frames social protest movements to determine if this study's findings indicate a shift in the protest paradigm.

468 Background: The standard-of-care first-line (1L) treatment for la/mUC is platinum-based chemotherapy (PBC) followed by avelumab 1L maintenance (1LM) in those who have not progressed following 1L PBC. This study aims to understand treatment patterns and real-world outcomes in patients with la/mUC in the US, including the early adoption of avelumab 1LM since its FDA approval in June 2020. Methods: Patients aged ≥18 years diagnosed with la/mUC between Jan 2015 and Jul 2021 were identified using electronic health records from the Flatiron Health database. Patient characteristics at baseline (la/mUC diagnosis) and clinical outcomes were described by 1L treatment received using the Kaplan-Meier method. Results: Of 4,387 patients included in this study, 3,706 (84.5%) received systemic treatments. Cisplatin-based therapy was the most common 1L therapy (33.3%), followed by carboplatin-based (30.9%) and immuno-oncology (IO) therapies (28.0%). Patients treated with cisplatin-based therapies had longer median progression-free survival compared with patients treated with carboplatin-based and IO therapies (8.0, 6.4, and 6.1 months, respectively). Median overall survival (mOS) in the treated cohort was 14.6 months from the initiation of 1L therapy. Patients treated with 1L cisplatin-based therapies had the longest mOS (18.3 months), followed by 1L IO therapies (14.6 months), and 1L carboplatin (13.2 months). Since July 2020, 89 patients received avelumab 1LM; the median follow-up time from the start of 1LM avelumab was 6.0 months and clinical outcomes data were immature. Of 1L-treated patients, 50.6% (n=1,874) moved onto second-line (2L) therapy during the study period. Notably, the cohort with the lowest 2L treatment rates were patients treated with 1L IO. The table demonstrates treatment sequences for this population. Conclusions: In this real-world cohort, most patients received standard-of-care platinum-based chemotherapy in 1L, with those on cisplatin-based therapy demonstrating the best outcomes. Early uptake of avelumab as 1LM was observed, and future analysis should examine the clinical outcomes of patients who received avelumab 1LM following 1L PBC. [Table: see text]

Much of the burden associated with schizophrenia is attributed to its early onset and chronic nature. Treatment with once monthly paliperidone palmitate (PP1M) is associated with lower healthcare utilization and better adherence as compared to oral atypical antipsychotics (OAAs). This study aimed to evaluate real-world effectiveness of PP1M and OAA therapies among US-based adult Medicaid patients with schizophrenia, overall and among young adults aged 18-35 years.Adult patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia and at least two claims for PP1M or OAA between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2014 were selected from the IBM Watson Health MarketScan Medicaid Database. Treatment patterns and healthcare resource utilization and costs were compared between PP1M and OAA treatment groups following inverse probability of treatment (IPT) weighting to adjust for potential differences. Utilization and cost outcomes were estimated using OLS and weighted Poisson regression models.After IPT weighting, the young adult PP1M and OAA cohorts were comprised of 3,095 and 3,155 patients, respectively. PP1M patients had a higher duration of continuous treatment exposure (168.2 vs 132.5 days, p = .004) and better adherence on the index medication (proportion of days covered ≥80%: 19.0% vs 17.1%, p .049). Young adults treated with PP1M were 37% less likely to have an all-cause inpatient admission (odds ratio [OR] = 0.63, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.53-0.74) and 33% less likely to have an ER visit (OR = 0.67, 95% CI = 0.55-0.81) compared to OAA young adult patients, but 27% more likely to have an all-cause outpatient office visit (OR = 1.27, 95% CI = 1.02-1.56). PP1M patients incurred significantly lower medical costs as compared to OAA patients.Medicaid patients with schizophrenia treated with PP1M have higher medication adherence and have fewer hospitalizations as compared to patients treated with OAAs. PP1M may lead to reduced healthcare utilization and improved clinical outcomes.

314 Background: The combination of axitinib plus pembrolizumab (AXI+PEM) is a standard of care in the first-line (1L) treatment of patients with advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC). This analysis describes the demographic and clinical characteristics, treatment and outcomes of patients receiving 1L AXI+PEM in a real-world setting. Methods: Medical record data were extracted from the Flatiron Health Database, which includes ̃280 cancer clinics across 800 sites in the US. Patients had confirmed Stage IV or metastatic RCC and initiated 1L AXI+PEM on or after 1/1/2018 to 3/31/2021. Tumor response is reported as best overall response to 1L therapy; real-world progression-free survival (rwPFS) and overall survival (rwOS) are reported as patients without a clinical event (rwPFS; progression/death; rwOS; death) at landmark time periods (3, 6, 9, and 12 months); denominators include censored patients. Other data are reported as medians (min, max) unless otherwise noted. Results: Three hundred and fifty-five patients received 1L AXI+PEM, with follow-up of 9.7 (0.1–24.3) months. Most patients were male (69.6%), and age was 68.0 (21.0–84.0) years. At diagnosis, 55.5% of patients had Stage IV RCC and 77.2% of patients had clear cell histology. IMDC Risk Score was favorable, intermediate, and poor in 27 (7.6%), 126 (35.5%), and 76 (24.4%) patients, respectively. At the time of analysis, 270 patients (76.1%) received only 1L therapy with AXI+PEM, while 85 patients (24.3%) received ≥1 subsequent line of treatment. VEGF-R inhibitors were the most commonly used second-line (2L) treatment (51 patients, 60.0%), with cabozantinib as the most frequently used VEGF-R inhibitor (40 patients, 47.1%). rwPFS at 3 months and 1 year was achieved by 248 patients (69.9%) and 77 patients (21.7%), respectively. rwOS ranged from 293 patients (82.5%) surviving at 3 months to 142 patients (40.0%) surviving at 1 year. Best overall response rate to 1L was 47.9% (complete or partial response observed in 170/355 patients). Conclusions: This study provides real-world evidence for the use and effectiveness of 1L AXI+PEM in patients with advanced RCC. AXI+PEM was used across all IMDC risk groups. While these initial finding support the use of AXI+PEM, additional follow-up is warranted to provide further understanding of the clinical outcomes and treatment patterns of patients with advanced RCC in the US receiving 1L AXI+PEM.

Additional file 2: Table S2. Any treatment received and time to treatment (12-month follow-up by pre-index hormonal contraceptive use).

Additional file 1: Table S1. ICD-9 and ICD-10 diagnosis codes for UF diagnosis, exclusion criteria, symptomatology, surgical/interventional procedures (including Current Procedural Terminology codes) and associated complications, and co-morbidities.

Additional file 3: Table S3. Any treatment received for Commercial and Medicaid populations for the 12-month follow-up group by symptomatology.

Additional file 4: Figure S1. Proportion of women receiving any treatment over the 60-month follow-up for Commercial and Medicaid populations.

Peanut allergy (PA) affects approximately 1.6 million US children. The current standard of care is strict avoidance and prompt reaction treatment. Peanut allergy health care costs and health care resource utilization (HCRU) are poorly understood.To estimate PA health care costs and HCRU using a nationally representative commercial payer database.The IBM MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters Database was examined for PA diagnosis/reaction codes between January 2010 and October 2016 in patients 64 years of age or younger, with age cohort-matched controls. Outcomes were measured 12 months before and after the first claim date. Health care costs and HCRU were compared using Student's t tests and χPatients with a PA-related diagnostic code (n = 41,675) incurred almost double all-cause health care costs vs controls ($6436 vs $3493, P.001), mainly from inpatient and outpatient medical costs ($5002 vs $2832, P.001). More than one third of the PA group patients (36%) had a code indicative of an anaphylactic reaction during follow-up. Mean PA or reaction-related code costs per visit totaled $7921 for hospitalizations and $1115 for emergency department (ED) visits. Costs were 30% lower in patients with asthma codes without PA codes vs those with both codes ($5678 vs $8112, P.001); all-cause ED costs were more than double in patients with atopic dermatitis codes with PA codes vs those without PA codes ($654 vs $308, P.001).National commercial payer claims data indicate a significant health care burden associated with a PA-related code, including over $6400/patient in annual all-cause costs and increased health care utilization.

Importance High-deductible health plans (HDHPs) are a common cost-savings option for employers but may lead to underuse of necessary treatments because beneficiaries bear the full cost of health care, including medications, until a deductible is met. Objectives To evaluate the association between switching from a non-HDHP to an HDHP and discontinuation of antihyperglycemic medication and to assess whether the association differs in patients using branded vs generic antihyperglycemic medications. Design, Setting, and Participants This retrospective matched cohort study used administrative claims from MarketScan databases to identify commercially insured adult patients with type 2 diabetes who used at least 1 antihyperglycemic medication in 2013. Patients in the HDHP cohort (n = 1490) were matched by propensity scores to a non-HDPH control cohort (n = 1490). Data were collected and analyzed from January 1, 2013, through December 31, 2014. Exposures Switching from a non-HDHP in 2013 to a full replacement HDHP in 2014 (no non-HDHP option offered) vs staying on a non-HDHP. Main Outcomes and Measures Difference-in-differences models estimated discontinuation of branded and generic antihyperglycemic medications. Results Among the 2980 patients included in the analysis (1932 men [64.8%]; mean [SD] age, HDHP cohort: 52.6 [6.9] years; non-HDHP cohort: 52.7 [7.3] years), no difference between the HDHP and non-HDHP cohorts was found in unadjusted follow-up discontinuation rates for all antihyperglycemic medications (255 [22.7%] vs 255 [23.3%];P = .72); however, among patients using branded medication, a significantly greater proportion of patients in the HDHP group did not refill branded medications (81 of 396 [20.5%] vs 61 of 437 [14.0%];P = .009). Difference-in-differences models were not statistically significant. Conclusions and Relevance These findings suggest switching to an HDHP is associated with discontinuation specifically of branded medications. Unintended health consequences may result and should be considered by employers making health care benefit decisions.

Background This study evaluated treatment patterns among women diagnosed with symptomatic uterine fibroids (UF) in the United States. Data were retrospectively extracted from the IBM Watson Health MarketScan® Commercial Claims and Encounters and Medicaid Multi-State databases. Methods Women aged 18–64 years with ≥1 medical claim with a UF diagnosis (primary position, or secondary position plus ≥1 associated symptom) from January 2010 to June 2015 (Commercial) and January 2009 to December 2014 (Medicaid) were eligible; the first UF claim during these time periods was designated the index date. Data collected 12 months pre- and 12 and 60 months post-diagnosis included clinical/demographic characteristics, pharmacologic/surgical treatments, and surgical complications. Prevalence (2015) and cumulative incidence (Commercial, 2010–2015; Medicaid, 2009–2015) of symptomatic UF were estimated. Results 225,737 (Commercial) and 19,062 (Medicaid) women had a minimum of 12 months post-index continuous enrollment and were eligible for study. Symptomatic UF prevalence and cumulative incidence were: 0.57, 1.23% (Commercial) and 0.46, 0.64% (Medicaid). Initial treatments within 12 months post-diagnosis were surgical (Commercial, 36.7%; Medicaid, 28.7%), pharmacologic (31.7%; 53.0%), or none (31.6%; 18.3%). Pharmacologic treatments were most commonly non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and oral contraceptives; hysterectomy was the most common surgical treatment. Of procedures of abdominal hysterectomy, abdominal myomectomy, uterine artery embolization, and ablation in the first 12 months post-index, 14.9% (Commercial) and 24.9% (Medicaid) resulted in a treatment-associated complication. Abdominal hysterectomy had the highest complication rates (Commercial, 18.5%; Medicaid, 31.0%). Conclusions Off-label use of pharmacologic therapies and hysterectomy for treatment of symptomatic UF suggests a need for indicated non-invasive treatments for symptomatic UF.