Abstract P1-07-04: Claims-derived comorbidities associations with real-world overall survival (rwOS) among patients with metastatic breast cancer in an electronic health record-claims linked dataset
Authors: Ascha Mustafa S. , Asfaw Alemseged A. , Yerram Prakirthi , Reiss Samantha N. , Brake Sarah D. , Wadé Niquelle B. 
Published: March 2023

Introduction: Comorbid conditions can significantly impact various aspects of cancer care and therefore are often utilized as covariates to control for selection bias in observational studies. Oncology based electronic health record (EHR) data is often used as a source for comorbidity information but may be subject to missingness due to differences in clinician documentation. Utilizing additional data sources, such as health care claims data, may allow for greater capture of comorbidities. This study used a claims data linked to oncology EHR to identify comorbidities and related patient characteristics, as well as the association between a claims-derived comorbidity index and real-world overall survival (rwOS) among outpatient metastatic breast cancer (mBC) patients, to characterize the comorbidities data from this data source. Methods: We selected patients diagnosed with mBC between 2013 and 2021 from a linkage of mBC de-identified EHR-derived Flatiron Health Research Database (FHRD) and Komodo Health claims data. Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) were identified based on the presence of a pre-specified International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes within 12 months preceding cancer diagnosis. To understand comorbidity data within this linkage, patient characteristics were assessed after the study cohort was stratified by the presence of any comorbidity assessed as part of CCI. We calculated the CCI for the study cohort as well as the prevalence of comorbid conditions that are used as part of the CCI. Kaplan-Meier estimates and Cox proportional hazards model were used to estimate median survival time and hazard ratios (HRs) of rwOS among patients with a CCI score of 1 and 2+. Results: The study cohort had 3,213 patients with a median age of 63 [IQR(52, 76)] and 98.7% were female. White patients accounted for 60.1% of the study population while Black and Hispanic/Latino patients accounted for 12.5% and 7.4% of the study cohort, respectively. Patients with comorbidities were older (mean age of 65 vs 61), had a higher (2+) ECOG performance status (PS) score (14.0% vs 9.7%), and were more likely to be Black (16.0% vs 11.0%) or Hispanic/Latino 10.8% vs 6.3%). Twenty percent of the patients had diabetes, 8.2% had peripheral vascular disease, 7.5% had mild liver disease, and 6.3% had congestive heart failure. According to index values, 21.0% of the study cohort had a CCI score of 1, and 18.0% had a score of 2 and above. The median survival times in years for patients with a CCI score of 1 and 2+ were 2.51 [95% CI 2.29,2.81] and 2.05 [95% CI 1.83,2.42], respectively. Based on univariate analysis, patients with a CCI score greater than zero had a higher risk of mortality (CCI 1: HR = 1.25 [95%CI 1.10, 1.41, p&lt; 0.01], CCI 2+: HR = 1.54 [95%CI 1.35, 1.76, p&lt; 0.01]). In the multivariate analysis, adjusted for age, ethnicity/race, and baseline ECOG PS score, the HR for the CCI 1 group was not statistically significant (HR=1.12 [95%CI 0.99, 1.27, p=0.08]). However, the risk of mortality was statistically significant for the CCI 2+ group (HR=1.31 [95%CI 1.14, 1.50], p &lt; 0.01) in the adjusted analysis. Conclusion: Claims data linked to EHR can be used to identify comorbidities and describe patient characteristics. As anticipated, generally, the presence of more comorbid conditions was associated with worse rwOS for patients with mBC. This finding supports use of this linked dataset for similar future studies.

Citation Format: Mustafa S. Ascha, Alemseged A. Asfaw, Prakirthi Yerram, Samantha N. Reiss, Sarah D. Brake, Niquelle B. Wadé. Claims-derived comorbidities associations with real-world overall survival (rwOS) among patients with metastatic breast cancer in an electronic health record-claims linked dataset [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2022 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(5 Suppl):Abstract nr P1-07-04.