Heien, Herbert C.

Abstract Background Identifying biologic-treated patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) at higher risk of serious infections is a priority. We conducted a retrospective cohort study evaluating frailty and risk of serious infections in biologic-treated patients with IBD. Methods Using an administrative claims database, we identified biologic-treated patients with IBD between 2014 and 2018 with follow-up 1 year before and after treatment initiation. Using a validated claims-based hospital frailty risk scoring system, patients were classified as frail and nonfrail. We compared the risk of serious infections (infections requiring hospitalization) between frail and nonfrail patients using Cox proportional hazard analysis adjusting for age, comorbidities, disease characteristics, health care utilization, use of corticosteroids, immunomodulators, and opiates. Results We included 5987 biologic-treated patients with IBD (4881 on TNFα antagonists, 1106 on vedolizumab), of whom 2350 (39.3%) were classified as frail; over 7115 person-years of follow-up was included, and 520 patients developed serious infection. Frailty was not associated with increased risk of serious infection (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 1.12; 95% CI, 0.93–1.36), whereas advanced age (older than 60 years), high comorbidity burden, corticosteroid use, opiate use, and prior serious infection were associated with increased risk of serious infection. On stratified analysis, frailty was associated with increased risk of serious infections in vedolizumab-treated patients (aHR, 1.69; 95% CI, 1.03–2.79) but not in TNFα antagonist-treated patients (aHR, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.83–1.27). Conclusions In biologic-treated patients with IBD, frailty assessed using a claims-based frailty index was not independently associated with increased risk of serious infections. Future studies evaluating objective and biological measures of frailty are warranted to risk-stratify older patients with IBD.

In 2013, the American Society of Hematology (ASH) published recommendations with Choosing Wisely to limit surveillance imaging in aggressive lymphoma. We studied surveillance imaging practice patterns for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) before and after the ASH Choosing Wisely campaign. We used OptumLabs Data Warehouse, a national insurance claims database, to retrospectively study imaging frequency in survivors of DLBCL from 2008 to 2016. Three time periods were defined: Period 1 (2008 to 2010), Period 2 (2011 to 2013), and Period 3 (2014 to 2016). One thousand four hundred seventy-two patients were included. Median follow up was approximately 2 years. During the first and second years of surveillance, imaging remained stable between Period 1 (years 1 and 2: 199 [91%] and 137 [83%], respectively) and Period 2 (years 1 and 2: 257 [88%] and 172 [77%], respectively; P = .38), but decreased in Period 3 (years 1 and 2: 315 [78%] and 83 [61%], respectively; P < .01). In a multivariable logistic regression, year after 2012 was a significant predictor of decreased overuse (more than two scans per year in the first year of surveillance; [odds ratio, 0.49 for 2013 v 2008; P = .02]). Our study demonstrated the rate of surveillance scans—both computed tomography and positron emission tomography imaging—in DLBCL decreased after the ASH Choosing Wisely campaign. Multiple factors, such as changes in recommendations, reimbursement, and provider knowledge base, may have all contributed and should be studied further.

Background: Adherence to surveillance guidelines in resected colon cancer has significant implications for patient morbidity, cost of care, and healthcare utilization. This study measured the underuse and overuse of imaging for staging and surveillance in stage I–II colon cancer. Methods: The OptumLabs database was queried for administrative claims data on adult patients with stage I–II colon cancer who underwent surgery alone in 2008 through 2016. Use of PET and CT imaging was evaluated during both initial staging (n=6,921) and surveillance for patients with at least 1 year of follow-up (n=5,466). “High use” was defined as >2 CT abdominal/pelvic (CT A/P) or PET scans per year during surveillance. Results: Overall, 27% of patients with stage I–II colon cancer did not have a staging CT A/P or PET scan and 95% did not have a CT chest scan. However, rates of staging CT A/P and CT chest scans increased from 62.0% (2008) to 74.8% (2016) and from 2.3% (2008) to 7.1% (2016), respectively. Staging PET use was overall very low (5.2%). During surveillance, approximately 30% of patients received a CT A/P or PET and 5% received a CT chest scan within the first year after surgery. Of patients who had surveillance CT A/P or PET scans, the proportion receiving >2 scans within the first year (high use) declined from 32.4% (2008) to 9.6% (2016) (P = .01). Conclusions: Although PET use remains appropriately low, many patients with stage I–II colon cancer do not receive appropriate staging and surveillance CT chest scans. Among those who do receive these scans during surveillance, high use has declined significantly over time.

Abstract Introduction: The role of surveillance imaging in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) after treatment with curative intent is debated. In 2013, the American Society of Hematology (ASH) Choosing Wisely® campaign (Hicks LK, et al. Blood 2013) released a recommendation to "limit surveillance CT scans in asymptomatic patients following curative-intent treatment for aggressive lymphoma." This was based on previous studies demonstrating a lack of survival benefit as well as a significant impact on the patient in terms of cost, anxiety, incidental findings and radiation exposure. Similar findings have been described regarding the use of PET imaging, especially in low risk patients. We aimed to study the changes in practice patterns of surveillance imaging for DLBCL survivors treated with curative intent before and after the publication of the ASH Choosing Wisely® campaign. Methods: Administrative claims data from a large U.S commercial insurance database (OptumLabs Data Warehouse) were used to retrospectively identify adult patients with an incident diagnosis of DLBCL between 2008 and 2016 and at least one year of follow-up. We excluded those who did not receive treatment with curative intent: RCHOP (rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone) x 6 cycles or RCHOP x 3-5 cycles plus radiation. Patients were also excluded if they had a co-existing or second cancer, or if they received any chemotherapy/radiation during their surveillance period, as to exclude anyone with a recurrence of their lymphoma. The surveillance period started 90 days after the last chemotherapy or radiation and continued for the duration of follow-up. Surveillance imaging was defined as any PET, PET-CT, CT chest, CT abdomen, and/or CT pelvis. To examine trends over time, three time periods were defined: 2008-2010, 2011-2013 and 2014-2016. The Cochran Armitage test was used to test the trend hypothesis. Results: A total of 1,472 patients were included. Cohort characteristics by time period are described in Table 1. Surveillance imaging frequency decreased from 84% in Year 1 of surveillance to 43% in Year 5 (Figure 1). Overall, surveillance imaging during the first 3 surveillance years significantly decreased over the three time periods (Figure 2) (P<0.01 for Years 1 and 2, P=0.04 for Year 3). Imaging surveillance for the first two years of surveillance did not significantly decrease from 2008-2010 to 2011-2013 (P>0.05), but significantly decreased from 2011-2013 to 2014-2016 (P<0.01). Of the groups that received imaging surveillance during year 1, the median number of scans during the first year was 2 (inter-quartile range, 1-2) and did not significantly change over time. In addition, PET/PET-CT surveillance decreased from 49% in Year 1 to <10% in Year 5. PET/PET-CT also decreased over the three time periods, from 62% (2008-2010) to 48% (2011-2013) to 43% (2014-2016) during the first year of surveillance and 40% to 31% to 25% during the second year. Younger age (<65 years versus ≥65 years) was associated with higher imaging utilization (86% versus 81%, respectively), and specifically PET/PET-CT utilization (55% versus 43%, respectively), during the first year of surveillance. However, race (white versus non-white) did not significantly affect imaging (85% versus 83%) or PET utilization (50% versus 47%) during the first year of surveillance. Conclusions: Our study demonstrates that the rate of surveillance CT and PET imaging in DLBCL patients treated with curative intent decreased significantly in the years after the publication of the ASH Choosing Wisely® campaign. However, over half of the DLBCL patients diagnosed in 2014-2016 continued to undergo surveillance imaging, indicating either incomplete guideline dissemination or ongoing debate regarding optimal surveillance practice. Future studies are necessary to determine whether such a decline in surveillance imaging is sustained and to examine factors (patient, provider, and payer) associated with surveillance imaging in DLBCL. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Abstract Background: The optimal follow-up of MGUS patients, including frequency of visits and type of tests to order, is unknown because there are no evidence-based data available for guidance. Nevertheless, there are currently 4 clinical practice guidelines that are based on expert-consensus: UK-Nordic (2009), International Myeloma Working Group (IMWG; 2010), International Expert Consensus (IEC; 2010) and European Myeloma Network (EMN; 2014). Most guidelines recommend annual follow-up with laboratory tests until life expectancy becomes limited. How MGUS patients are followed in the US and whether clinical practice guidelines are being followed remain largely unknown. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of adult (age >18 years) patients from 2006-2012 using theOptum Labs Data Warehouse,a large database including administrative claims information on >150 million privately insured and Medicare Advantage enrollees throughout the US. We identified patients with an incident diagnosis of MGUS (ICD9: 273.1) who had enrollment periods of>1 year pre- and>2 years post-diagnosis in order to exclude patients with a prior history or subsequent diagnosis of lymphoplasmacytic malignancy. We determined the overall outpatient follow-up practice patterns (visits or tests performed for MGUS), their variations over time and by geo-demographic subgroups, and concordance with current clinical practice guidelines Results: There were 10,349 MGUS patients who met the study criteria. The mean interval per MGUS follow-up visit was 13.1 months. The distribution of patients by mean interval between visits was: q<6 months (39.9%), q6-12 months (10.7%), q13-24 months (2.6%) and q>24 months (46.8%). There was a significant trend towards a higher proportion of patients being followed q<6 over time from 36.2% in 2006 to 43.7% in 2013 (P=0.01). Patients ≥70 years were more likely followed q<6 months, while those from the Northeast or ≤50 years were more likely followed q>24 months compared to their counterparts (P<0.01). Over half of patients≥80 years were being followed either q<6 (44.7%) or q6-12 (11.6%) months (Figure 1). Only about half of the patients diagnosed in 2013 were concordant with any of the available guidelines regardless of whether the guidelines were more aggressive (UK-Nordic/IEC) or more conservative (IMWG/EMN) in their follow-up recommendations (54.6% and 56.5%, respectively). The tests ordered during follow-up are shown in Figure 2. The most common tests were complete blood count, calcium, and creatinine as they were ordered in over half of the follow-up visits (56.5% to 68.4%). In 11.6% of the follow-up, a face-to-face visit was not associated with any ancillary test, while in 31.5%, the follow-up was comprised of ancillary tests only without a face-to-face visit. The test combination of complete blood count, calcium, creatinine, and serum protein electrophoresis with or without free light chain was ordered in 25.0% of the visits. Conclusions: In the US, the MGUS follow-up practice patterns varied demographically and geographically. Only half of the patients were followed according to current guideline recommendations. A large proportion of patients with limited life expectancy continued to undergo close follow-ups. Figure 1 Figure 1. Figure 2 Figure 2. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Abstract Background: Prior studies on the risk of progression of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) into lymphoplasmacytic malignancies (LPMs) were almost exclusively in the White populations, comprised of limited number of patients residing in relatively small geographic areas, or included patients mostly detected by serologic screening as part of clinical study (as opposed to detected clinically during evaluation of symptoms suspicious for LPMs). Similar epidemiologic studies in a large, racially diverse population are lacking. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of incident MGUS patients diagnosed from 2006-2013 using theOptum Labs Data Warehouse, a large database including administrative claims information on >110 million privately insured and Medicare Advantage enrollees throughout the United States. We identified patients with a diagnosis of MGUS (ICD9: 273.1) with 1-5 years of continuous enrollment. Each enrollment cohort based on the duration of follow-up (1-, 2-, 3-, 4-, or 5-year) was analyzed individually to help estimate the progression to cancer. We excluded patients who were diagnosed with LPMs within three months of MGUS diagnosis. We calculated the rate of progression into LPMs (chronic lymphocytic leukemia [CLL], light chain amyloidosis [AL], multiple myeloma [MM], non-Hodgkin lymphoma [NHL], and Waldenström macroglobulinemia [WM]) expressed as number per 100 person-years. Results: There were 14,728 MGUS patients for a total of 21,288 person-years of follow-up. The distributions of the number of patients and events according to the cohorts classified by duration of follow-up were: 1-year (14,728 patients; 243 events), 2-year (10,644 patients; 307 events), 3-year (7,333 patients; 299 events), 4-year (4,497 patients; 237 events), and 5-year (2,960 patients; 191 events). The rates of progression to LPMs were consistently highest during the first year after MGUS diagnosis (~2.00), generally declined by half during the second year and remained fairly stable thereafter (~1.00; Table 1). The rates of progression into LPMs overall as well as by demographics are shown in Table 2. The risk of progression was significantly higher among men (P < 0.01) and older patients (>50 years; P = 0.03) compared to their counterparts but similar among races (P = 0.15). Of the 243 patients who progressed, the distribution of LPMs was MM (70.0%), NHL (13.2%), WM (12.3%), AL (4.1%), and CLL (0.4%). Conclusions: Among patients withMGUS, the risk of transformation into LPMs is continuous although twice as high during the first year after MGUS diagnosis compared to subsequent years. The risk of transformation was higher among men and those who were older but did not differ among the racial subgroups. Our findings can be used to develop an optimal risk-based MGUS follow-up strategy that incorporates not only serum biomarkers but also demographic factors. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Abstract Background While several studies have identified risk factors for PJI using insurance claims data, these data sets have been limited to a single regional insurance dataset or to the Medicare population. We sought to investigate risk factors for early PJI among patients undergoing total hip or knee arthroplasty (THKA). Methods All patients who underwent primary THKA between January 1, 2004 and July 31, 2014 with 12 months of continuous preceding medical and pharmacy insurance coverage were included in the study. The primary outcome of PJI required both a compatible procedure code and a diagnostic code during an inpatient stay from the time of THKA through 90 days after discharge. Comorbidities were based on ICD-9 codes in the preceding 12 months and patients with a prior diagnosis of PJI during that time period were excluded. Univariate and multivariate analysis was performed using logistic regression. Results A total of 147,053 patients underwent THKA during the study period, including 97,448 patients with TKA and 49,605 with THA. PJI occurred in 754 (0.5%) patients. Female gender was independently associated with lower odds of PJI (Figure). A number of biologically plausible factors were associated with increased risk, including chronic skin ulcer, obesity, substance use disorders, joint sarcoma, and malnutrition. The adjusted odds of PJI increased in a stepwise fashion with each increase in the Charlson comorbidity index (CCI), with those with a score of 4 or more having a nearly 2-fold adjusted odds of PJI compared with a score of 0 (OR 1.91; 95% CI 1.29 −2.82). Previously observed risk factors diabetes mellitus, rheumatoid arthritis, and chronic renal failure were associated with increased odds of PJI on univariate analysis, but not after adjustment. Conclusion These data identify several potentially modifiable risk factors for preoperative optimization, including obesity, malnutrition, chronic skin ulcers, and substance-use disorders. The level of comorbidity as assessed by the CCI provides a rough estimate of the increasing risk of PJI. The pathobiology of additional risk factors observed here deserves further study. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.

SummaryBackgroundReal‐world comparative benefits and risks of infliximab (IFX) and adalimumab (ADA) in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) are unclear.AimTo evaluate the comparative effectiveness and safety of IFX and ADA in patients with UC who were new users of anti‐TNF agents.MethodsUsing an administrative claims database (Optum Labs Data Warehouse), we identified patients who received first anti‐TNF (IFX, ADA) prescription after a 12‐month period without any anti‐TNF treatment (baseline), and with a minimum 6‐month follow‐up after anti‐TNF initiation. Primary outcome measures were: all‐cause and UC‐related hospitalisation, abdominal surgery, corticosteroid use >60 days after starting anti‐TNF, and serious infections. We performed 2:1 propensity‐score matched Cox proportional hazard analysis, and inverse probability‐of‐treatment weight (IPTW) analysis, accounting for healthcare utilisation, comorbidities and use of UC‐related medication.ResultsWe included 1400 new users of anti‐TNF agents (age, 43 ± 15 years; 52% males), from 2006 to 2014. On propensity‐score matched analysis, there was no significant difference in the risk of UC‐related hospitalisation [IFX vs. ADA; adjusted hazard ratio (aHR), 1.04; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.71–1.51], corticosteroid use (aHR, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.68–1.06) and serious infections (aHR, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.29–1.34) between IFX‐ and ADA‐treated patients; the number of surgical events was very small. On IPTW analysis, risk of corticosteroid use was significantly lower in IFX – as compared to ADA – treated patients (aHR, 0.82; 95% CI, 0.68–0.99). Results were stable on multiple sensitivity analyses.ConclusionsIn a large retrospective cohort of patients with UC who were new users of anti‐TNF agents, IFX‐treated patients may have lower corticosteroid use than ADA‐treated patients, but risk of hospitalisation and serious infections were comparable.