Estimating the economic burden of gastric cancer in the United States.

e16589 Background: Gastric cancer is a worldwide problem; however, there is little information regarding its economic burden in the US. Our primary objective was to estimate real-world resource use and cost associated with gastric cancer in a US managed care setting. Methods: Retrospective cohort analysis of direct costs and healthcare services use in gastric cancer patients and controls was conducted using IMS LifeLink Health Plan Claims (US) Database. Cases were patients ≥ 18 years of age and newly-diagnosed with gastric cancer in 2007-2009 (date of first gastric cancer diagnosis considered index date). Cases were excluded if they had evidence of any cancer in the 360 days prior to index or evidence of cancer other than gastric in the 4 weeks after index. Controls were individuals without gastric cancer and matched 1:1 with cases (98.4%) on age, gender, region, health plan and payer type, and length of follow-up. Health resource utilization and costs were reported as monthly means. Results: A total of 3...