Patient and caregiver time burden associated with anaemia treatment in different patient populations.

GOALS

Cancer patients treated with chemotherapy often develop anaemia. This cross-sectional analysis examined the effect of anaemia treatment on patient and caregiver time and activities.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The analysis included 9,920 patients from 646 US outpatient oncology centres. Patients completed a survey that contained questions about travel time, total time for the visit and other impacts.

RESULTS

The mean time taken for a single clinic visit to receive anaemia treatment was 2.2 h. On average, patients receiving epoetin alfa required 17.6 h more than patients receiving darbepoetin alfa to complete a course of anaemia treatment. All patients in the study reported that they had to adjust at least one activity as a result of clinic visits. Older patients, women and patients from low-income areas were more likely to be accompanied during clinic visits.

CONCLUSIONS

Reducing the number of clinic visits needed for anaemia treatment by using darbepoetin alfa may benefit patients.