Including carer health-related quality of life in NICE health technology assessments in the United Kingdom.

The impact of health technologies may extend beyond the patient and affect the health of people in their network, like their informal carers. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) methods guide explicitly allows the inclusion of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) effects on carers in economic evaluations when these effects are substantial, but the proportion of NICE appraisals that includes carer HRQoL remains small. This paper discusses when inclusion of carer HRQoL is justified, how inclusion can be substantiated, and how carer HRQoL can be measured and included in health economic models.

Estimating the Prognostic Value of the NTRK Fusion Biomarker for Comparative Effectiveness Research in The Netherlands.

Objectives: We evaluated the prognostic value of the neurotrophic tyrosine receptor kinase (NTRK) gene fusions by comparing the survival of patients with NTRK+ tumours with patients without NTRK+ tumours.

Methods: We used genomic and clinical registry data from the Center for Personalized Cancer Treatment (CPCT-02) study containing a cohort of cancer patients who were treated in Dutch clinical practice between 2012 and 2020. We performed a propensity score matching analysis, where NTRK+ patients were matched to NTRK- patients in a 1:4 ratio.

Four-year clinical update and treatment switching-adjusted outcomes with first-line nivolumab plus ipilimumab with chemotherapy for metastatic non-small cell lung cancer in the CheckMate 9LA randomized trial.

Background: In CheckMate 9LA, nivolumab plus ipilimumab with chemotherapy prolonged overall survival (OS) versus chemotherapy regardless of tumor PD-L1 expression or histology. We report updated efficacy and safety in all randomized patients with a minimum 4-year follow-up and an exploratory treatment-switching adjustment analysis in all treated patients who received chemotherapy and subsequent immunotherapy.

Methods: Adults with stage IV/recurrent non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), no sensitizing alterations, and ECOG performance status ≤1 were randomized 1:1 to nivolumab 360 mg every 3 weeks plus ipilimumab 1 mg/kg every 6 weeks with chemotherapy (two cycles) or chemotherapy (four cycles, with optional maintenance pemetrexed for the nonsquamous population).

Societal Utilities for Cognitive Impairment in Schizophrenia: Developing a Preference-Based Scoring Algorithm Based on the Schizophrenia Cognition Rating Scale.

Introduction: Loss of cognitive function is a common feature in schizophrenia. However, generic measures of health-related quality of life favored by decision-makers, such as the EQ-5D, are not designed to detect changes in cognitive function. We report the valuation of the Schizophrenia Cognition Rating Scale (SCoRS), a schizophrenia-specific measure of cognitive impairment.

Informal Care Costs According to Age and Proximity to Death to Support Cost-Effectiveness Analyses.

Background: Costs of informal care are ignored in many cost-effectiveness analyses (CEAs) conducted from a societal perspective; however, these costs are relevant for lifesaving interventions targeted at the older population. In this study, we estimated informal care costs by age and proximity to death across European regions and showed how these estimates can be included in CEAs.

Methods: We estimated informal care costs by age and proximity to death using generalised linear mixed-effects models.

In search of a 'pan-European value set'; application for EQ-5D-3L.

Objectives: Country-specific value sets for the EQ-5D are available which reflect preferences for health states elicited from the general population. This allows the transformation of responses on EQ-5D to health state utility values. Only twelve European countries possess country-specific value sets and no value set reflecting the preferences of Europe exists.

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Treating Patients With NTRK-Positive Cancer With the Histology-Independent Therapy Entrectinib.

Objectives: This study tackles several challenges of evaluating histology-independent treatments using entrectinib as an example. Histology-independent treatments are provided based on genetic marker(s) of tumors, regardless of the tumor type. We evaluated the lifetime cost-effectiveness of testing all patients for NTRK fusions and treating the positive cases with entrectinib compared with no testing and standard of care (SoC) for all patients.

ATIR101 administered after T-cell-depleted haploidentical HSCT reduces NRM and improves overall survival in acute leukemia.

Overcoming graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) without increasing relapse and severe infections is a major challenge after allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT). ATIR101 is a haploidentical, naïve cell-enriched T-cell product, depleted of recipient-alloreactive T cells to minimize the risk of GvHD and provide graft-versus-infection and -leukemia activity. Safety and efficacy of ATIR101 administered after T-cell-depleted haploidentical HSCT (TCD-haplo + ATIR101) without posttransplant immunosuppressors were evaluated in a Phase 2, multicenter study of 23 patients with acute leukemia and compared with an observational cohort undergoing TCD-haplo alone (n = 35), matched unrelated donor (MUD; n = 64), mismatched unrelated donor (MMUD; n = 37), and umbilical cord blood (UCB; n = 22) HSCT.

DNA methylation at an enhancer of the three prime repair exonuclease 2 gene (TREX2) is linked to gene expression and survival in laryngeal cancer.

Background: Genetic aberrations in DNA repair genes are linked to cancer, but less is reported about epigenetic regulation of DNA repair and functional consequences. We investigated the intragenic methylation loss at the three prime repair exonuclease 2 (TREX2) locus in laryngeal (n = 256) and colorectal cancer cases (n = 95) and in pan-cancer data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA).

Results: Significant methylation loss at an intragenic site of TREX2 was a frequent trait in both patient cohorts (p = 0.

Autologous bone graft in the treatment of post-traumatic bone defects: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: This meta-analysis aimed to determine the bone union rate of bone defects treated with the different autologous bone graft techniques.

Methods: The PubMed and the Cochrane Library databases were searched using the terms: 'fracture' AND ('bone loss' OR 'defect' OR 'defects') AND 'bone graft', restricted to English language, to human species, and to a publication period from January 1999 to November 2014. Data were extracted by one of the reviewers and then checked by the second.

Lifestyle factors and risk of leukemia and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: a case-control study.

Purpose: Risk factors for leukemia and lymphomas in adults are largely unknown. This study was aimed at evaluating the association between lifestyle factors and the risk of hematological malignancies in an adult population.

Methods: Data were drawn from a population-based case-control study carried out in Italy and included 294 cases (199 lymphoid and 95 myeloid) and 279 controls.

Chronic diseases, medical history and familial cancer, and risk of leukemia and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in an adult population: a case-control study.

Purpose: This investigation was aimed at evaluating the association between chronic diseases, medical history and familial cancer, and the risk of developing hematological malignancies.

Methods: Data were drawn from a population-based case-control study carried out to assess the risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and leukemia in an adult population exposed to environmental air pollution in Northern Italy. Each case was classified according to the WHO ICD-O-3 classification.

Risk of leukaemia and residential exposure to air pollution in an industrial area in Northern Italy: a case-control study.

Leukaemia risk in adult populations exposed to environmental air pollution is poorly investigated. We have carried out a population-based case-control study in an area that included a fossil fuel power plant, a coke oven and two big chemical industries. Information on residential history and several risk factors for leukaemia was obtained from 164 cases, diagnosed between 2002 and 2005, and 279 controls.

To what degree is the association between educational inequality and laryngeal cancer explained by smoking, alcohol consumption, and occupational exposure?

Objectives: The aim of this study was to measure the extent to which the association between socioeconomic status and laryngeal cancer among males is mediated by smoking, alcohol consumption, and occupational exposure.

Methods: We used Karlson et al's decomposition method for logit models, which returns the percentage of change in odds ratios (OR) due to confounding. This population-based, case-control study on laryngeal cancer was conducted in Germany in 1998-2000 and included 208 male cases and 702 controls.

Occupation and educational inequalities in laryngeal cancer: the use of a job index.

Background: Previous studies tried to assess the association between socioeconomic status and laryngeal cancer. Alcohol and tobacco consumption explain already a large part of the social inequalities. Occupational exposures might explain a part of the remaining but the components and pathways of the socioeconomic contribution have yet to be fully disentangled.

Infectious diseases and risk of leukemia and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: a case-control study.

The aim of this investigation was to evaluate the association between common infectious diseases and the risk of hematological malignancies in an adult population. Data were drawn from a population based case-control study that included 165 cases (125 lymphoid and 40 myeloid neoplasms) and 233 controls. Occurrence of childhood diseases (measles, rubella, chickenpox, mumps, pertussis and scarlet fever) was slightly inversely associated with the risk of both malignancies, but statistical significance was not reached.

Tumor location and patient characteristics of colon and rectal adenocarcinomas in relation to survival and TNM classes.

Background: Old age at diagnosis is associated with poor survival in colorectal cancer (CRC) for unknown reasons. Recent data show that colonoscopy is efficient in preventing left-sided cancers only. We examine the association of Tumor Node Metastasis (TNM) classes with diagnostic age and patient characteristics.