Trends and Patterns of Ovarian Cancer Mortality in Belgrade, Serbia: A Joinpoint Regression Analysis

Malaria in the Americas: trends from 1959 to 2011

Malaria has declined in recent years in countries of the American continents. In 2011, 12 of 21 endemic countries had already met their 2015 Millennium Development Goal. However, this declining trend has not been adequately evaluated. An analysis of the number of cases per 100,000 people (annual parasite index [API]) and the percentage of positive blood slides (slide positivity rate [SPR]) during the period of 1959-2011 in 21 endemic countries was done using the joinpoint regression methodology. During 1960-1979, API and SPR increased significantly and peaked in the 1980s. Since the 1990s, there have been significant declining trends in both API and SPR. Additionally, both Plasmodium vivax and P. falciparum species-specific incidence have declined. With the exception of two countries, such a collectively declining malaria trend was not observed in previous decades. This presents a unique opportunity for the Americas to seriously consider malaria elimination as a final goal.

Treatment patterns, health care utilization, and costs of ovarian cancer in Central and Eastern Europe using a Delphi panel based on a retrospective chart review

OBJECTIVE

Despite the considerable disease burden of ovarian cancer, there were no cost studies in Central and Eastern Europe. This study aimed to describe treatment patterns, health care utilization, and costs associated with treating ovarian cancer in Hungary, Poland, Serbia, and Slovakia.

METHOD

Overall clinical practice for management of epithelial ovarian cancer was investigated through a 3-round Delphi panel. Experts completed a survey based on the chart review (n = 1542). The survey was developed based on clinical guidelines and the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics Annual Report. Means, ranges, and outlier values were discussed with the experts during a telephone interview. Finally, consensus estimates were obtained in face-to-face workshops. Based on these results, overall cost of ovarian cancer was estimated using a Markov model.

RESULTS

The patients included in the chart review were followed up from presurgical diagnosis and in each phase of treatment, that is, surgical staging and primary surgery, chemotherapy and chemotherapy monitoring, follow-up, and palliative care. The 5-year overall cost per patient was €14,100 to €16,300 in Hungary, €14,600 to €15,800 in Poland, €7600 to €8100 in Serbia, and €12,400 to €14,500 in Slovakia. The main components were chemotherapy-associated costs (68%-74% of the total cost), followed by cost of primary treatment with surgery (15%-21%) and palliative care (3%-10%).

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with ovarian cancer consume considerable health care resources and incur substantial costs in Central and Eastern Europe. These findings may prove useful for clinicians and decision makers in understanding the economic implications of managing ovarian cancer in Central and Eastern Europe and the need for innovative therapies.