title: Evaluation of direct medical costs of hospitalization for febrile neutropenia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Treatment of febrile neutropenia (FN) is costly, because it typically involves hospitalization. As cancer rates continue to increase, the number of patients suffering from FN will also increase, making it important to quantify the costs of treating this condition accurately and comprehensively.
  
  
  METHODS
  A consecutive sample of patients admitted to an inpatient hematology/oncology ward at a tertiary care hospital for the treatment of chemotherapy-induced FN was enrolled in this study. Patients were followed prospectively during hospitalization, and information on medical resource utilization including length of stay, medications, and laboratory and diagnostic tests was collected. Costs, extracted from hospital and provincial databases, were used to calculate the overall cost per FN episode, from the hospital perspective.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fifty-one episodes of FN that occurred in 46 patients were included in the study. Approximately 52% of these episodes occurred in women, and 65% of these episodes occurred in patients with hematologic malignancies. The mean +/- standard deviation age of patients was 60.3 +/- 13.4 years. The mean length of stay per episode was 6.8 +/- 4.9 days. The mean overall cost per episode was 6324 +/- 4783 in 2007 Canadian dollars.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Hospitalization for the treatment of FN is expensive. The results of this study could be used in future economic evaluations of preventive measures and treatments for FN, including primary prophylactic administration of hematopoietic growth factors and outpatient treatment of this condition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Nina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lathia
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mittmann
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: DeAngelis
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Knowles
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cheung
authors.forename: Eugenia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Piliotis
authors.forename: Neil
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shear
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Walker
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000009:adverse effects; D002170:Canada; D005260:Female; D005334:Fever / Q000191:economics*; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018803:Models, Economic; D009503:Neutropenia / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000191:economics*; D012307:Risk Factors