A recent study demonstrates that bilateral oophorectomy decreases the risk of ovarian cancer but increases the risk of death from other causes. Researchers from PHAR,LLC; the John Wayne Cancer Institute; USC; Stanford; Brigham and Women’s Hospital/ Harvard; and the University of Auckland conducted a prospective cohort study following over 30,000 Nurses’ Health Study participants for 28 years to investigate long-term health outcomes in women who had either bilateral oophorectomy or ovarian conservation at hysterectomy. Bilateral oophorectomy was associated with increased mortality in women younger than 50 years who never used estrogen therapy, and at no age was oophorectomy associated with increased survival. The full article is now available online ahead-of-print in Obstetrics & Gynecology. An accompanying editorial comments, “Dr. Parker and colleagues have made a significant contribution to our understanding of the effect of estrogen deprivation on women’s health, and they elegantly outline the dramatic increases in mortality.” The editorial is also available online.
Awards & Recognition
PHAR’s Strong Presence at ISPOR 2012-6 Posters Presented at Annual Meeting
PHAR researchers contributed to 6 posters that were presented at the 17th Annual International Meeting of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) in Washington, DC. Poster topics ranged from PNETs to healthcare utilization and cost of uncontrolled epilepsy. A synopsis of each poster is listed below:
- An analysis of acromegaly treatment patterns using a novel graphic method revealed patterns of treatment as well as insights about adherence and persistence in the treatment of the disease.
- An evaluation of treatment patterns for several FDA-approved drugs for myelodysplastic syndrome showed that, among other findings, most patients are given supportive care rather than hypomethylating agents for treatment.
- A comparison of annual overall and healthcare-related costs between adult patients with stable and uncontrolled epilepsy found that, regardless of disease stability, both are associated with a significant economic burden and that uncontrolled epilepsy is associated with greater costs.
- A comparison of healthcare utilization between patients with stable and uncontrollable epilepsy found that patients with uncontrollable epilepsy use significantly more healthcare services.
- An expert panel on the appropriateness of medical treatment in patients with unresectable midgut gastrointestinal neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) developed a consensus for scenarios not covered in other guidelines.
- An expert panel facilitated by the RAND/UCLA modified Delphi process produced consensus statements on the appropriateness of medical treatment in unresectable non-midgut NETs.