Advanced Lung Cancer Survival in Times of Economic Hardship: A Greek Paradigm

• Published in: Asian Pacific journal of cancer care Vol. 5; no. S1; pp. 19 - 25
• Main Authors: Miltiadou, Konstantinos, Kalantzis, Ioannis, Paraskeva, Maria, Solomos, Zisimangelos, Tsifi, Angeliki, Theodoridis, Dimitrios, Riza, Elena, Triantafyllou, Konstantinos, Kosmas, Christos
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: West Asia Organization for Cancer Prevention 14-08-2020
• Subjects: financial crisis, mortality, lung cancer, health impact, greece
• ISSN: 2588-3682; 2588-3682
• DOI: 10.31557/apjcc.2020.5.S1.19-25

Objective: Greece has been affected more than any other European country from the financial crisis that began in 2010. Just 20 months after Greece exited an eight-year long aid program, forecasts of a new recession within 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic make concerns regarding the compromise of health care quality within the new crisis relevant once again. In this study we sought to evaluate clinical outcomes in patients with advanced lung cancer in the pre-crisis and crisis era in a dedicated oncology centre in Greece. Methods: A retrospective analysis of 522 consecutive medical records of lung cancer patients admitted in a Greek dedicated cancer hospital between the years 2008-2013 was performed. Progression Free Survival (PFS) and Overall Survival (OS) were calculated for advanced lung cancer compared over two consecutive time periods using 2010 as a cutoff point.Result: 71 and 78 patients comprised the study sample for the two periods. PFS and OS were similar over the two periods (7.73 [6.42-9.04] vs. 6.03 [5.02-7.04] and 13.70 [9.61-17.79] vs. 11.08 [7.74-15.92] months, respectively). Higher Performance Status (PS) was associated with worse survival measures over both periods, while no statistical significance was reached for OS in the latter period. Dissimilarities in PFS were observed between beneficiaries of different insurance trusts. Conclusion: Clinical outcomes for advanced lung cancer have not changed as a result of the financial crisis in our institution. The insurance provider seems to affect health outcomes. This old paradigm could serve as new guidance in the forthcoming recession due to COVID-19 pandemic.