Journal
CANCER
Volume 124, Issue 9, Pages 2018-2025Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/cncr.31269
Keywords
Charlson comorbidity score; comorbidity; confounding control; Elixhauser comorbidity score; National Cancer Institute combined index
Categories
Funding
- Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas [RP1607674]
- National Cancer Institute [K05 CA134923]
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality [R24 HS022134]
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health (Clinical and Translational Science Award-linked KL2 Mentored Career Development Award) [KL2TR001441]
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BACKGROUND: This study was designed to adapt the Elixhauser comorbidity index for 4 cancer-specific populations (breast, prostate, lung, and colorectal) and compare 3 versions of the Elixhauser comorbidity score (individual comorbidities, summary comorbidity score, and cancer-specific summary comorbidity score) with 3 versions of the Charlson comorbidity score for predicting 2-year survival with 4 types of cancer. METHODS: This cohort study used Texas Cancer Registry-linked Medicare data from 2005 to 2011 for older patients diagnosed with breast (n = 19,082), prostate (n = 23,044), lung (n = 26,047), or colorectal cancer (n = 16,693). For each cancer cohort, the data were split into training and validation cohorts. In the training cohort, competing risk regression was used to model the association of Elixhauser comorbidities with 2-year noncancer mortality, and cancer-specific weights were derived for each comorbidity. In the validation cohort, competing risk regression was used to compare 3 versions of the Elixhauser comorbidity score with 3 versions of the Charlson comorbidity score. Model performance was evaluated with c statistics. RESULTS: The 2-year noncancer mortality rates were 14.5% (lung cancer), 11.5% (colorectal cancer), 5.7% (breast cancer), and 4.1% (prostate cancer). Cancer-specific Elixhauser comorbidity scores (c = 0.773 for breast cancer, c = 0.772 for prostate cancer, c = 0.579 for lung cancer, and c = 0.680 for colorectal cancer) performed slightly better than cancer-specific Charlson comorbidity scores (ie, the National Cancer Institute combined index; c = 0.762 for breast cancer, c = 0.767 for prostate cancer, c = 0.578 for lung cancer, and c = 0.674 for colorectal cancer). Individual Elixhauser comorbidities performed best (c = 0.779 for breast cancer, c = 0.783 for prostate cancer, c = 0.587 for lung cancer, and c = 0.687 for colorectal cancer). CONCLUSIONS: The cancer-specific Elixhauser comorbidity score performed as well as or slightly better than the cancer-specific Charlson comorbidity score in predicting 2-year survival. If the sample size permits, using individual Elixhauser comorbidities may be the best way to control for confounding in cancer outcomes research. (C) 2018 American Cancer Society.
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