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Vulvovaginal atrophy (VVA) in breast cancer survivors (BCS) is still an unmet medical need: results of an Italian Delphi Panel

ABSTRACT: PURPOSE: VVA is a common disease, with approximately 50% of all postmenopausal women having related symptoms. VVA has a significant impact on the personal and sexual lives and on many aspects of women’s self-esteem and emotional well-being. It is particularly frequent and severe in patient...

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Autores principales: Biglia, Nicoletta, Del Pup, Lino, Masetti, Riccardo, Villa, Paola, Nappi, Rossella E.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7181543/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31970513
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00520-019-05272-4
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author Biglia, Nicoletta
Del Pup, Lino
Masetti, Riccardo
Villa, Paola
Nappi, Rossella E.
author_facet Biglia, Nicoletta
Del Pup, Lino
Masetti, Riccardo
Villa, Paola
Nappi, Rossella E.
author_sort Biglia, Nicoletta
collection PubMed
description ABSTRACT: PURPOSE: VVA is a common disease, with approximately 50% of all postmenopausal women having related symptoms. VVA has a significant impact on the personal and sexual lives and on many aspects of women’s self-esteem and emotional well-being. It is particularly frequent and severe in patients treated for BC, where it originates significant economic and social costs. Given the lack of published evidence on this subject, a Delphi Panel was carried out to evaluate: The epidemiology of VVA and of its risk-factors/comorbidities in Italy. The present standard of care and unmet medical needs. The comparison between recent US epidemiological data and the Italian situation. The health resources used in VVA BC. The burden of illnessDespite the considerable negative impact on quality of life, a disparity between the high prevalence of this condition and the infrequent clinical diagnosis is documented in medical practice and in surveys. This inaccuracy is thought to be primarily a consequence of patients’ unwillingness and/or reluctance to report symptoms in the clinical setting and of health-care professional’s difficulty in approaching this sensitive topic during routine consultations. METHODS: A Delphi Panel methodology was used: a first round of written questionnaires, followed by a plenary meeting with a facilitator and by two additional rounds of telephone interviews. RESULTS: The prevalence of the condition in Italy can be estimated in 115,000 cases out of 380,000 BC survivors. The Panel confirmed that the epidemiological findings of a recent pharmacoeconomic analysis of a US claims database can be applied to Italian patient population. The Panel confirmed also an estimate of 4.25 additional cases/100/yr of UTI (urinary tract infection) in VVA BC patients (vs. a non-VVA-matched population), of 3.68 additional cases of vulvovaginitis, of 6.97 cases of climacteric symptoms, and of 3.64 cases of bone and joint disorders. As far as the resource use is concerned, in the VVA BC populations, 33.4 additional gynecological visits/100/year can be expected, along with 22.8 additional cancer screenings, 7.07 additional outpatient visits and 5.04 screenings for HPV. CONCLUSIONS: Even in Italy, a diagnosis of VVA, especially in a BC population, is associated with a relevant increase in the burden of illness and social costs, compared to a control population matched for age without VVA. This is due essentially to an increase in comorbidities and resource utilization with the consequence that an adequate treatment could reduce the impact of the condition.
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spelling pubmed-71815432020-04-29 Vulvovaginal atrophy (VVA) in breast cancer survivors (BCS) is still an unmet medical need: results of an Italian Delphi Panel Biglia, Nicoletta Del Pup, Lino Masetti, Riccardo Villa, Paola Nappi, Rossella E. Support Care Cancer Review Article ABSTRACT: PURPOSE: VVA is a common disease, with approximately 50% of all postmenopausal women having related symptoms. VVA has a significant impact on the personal and sexual lives and on many aspects of women’s self-esteem and emotional well-being. It is particularly frequent and severe in patients treated for BC, where it originates significant economic and social costs. Given the lack of published evidence on this subject, a Delphi Panel was carried out to evaluate: The epidemiology of VVA and of its risk-factors/comorbidities in Italy. The present standard of care and unmet medical needs. The comparison between recent US epidemiological data and the Italian situation. The health resources used in VVA BC. The burden of illnessDespite the considerable negative impact on quality of life, a disparity between the high prevalence of this condition and the infrequent clinical diagnosis is documented in medical practice and in surveys. This inaccuracy is thought to be primarily a consequence of patients’ unwillingness and/or reluctance to report symptoms in the clinical setting and of health-care professional’s difficulty in approaching this sensitive topic during routine consultations. METHODS: A Delphi Panel methodology was used: a first round of written questionnaires, followed by a plenary meeting with a facilitator and by two additional rounds of telephone interviews. RESULTS: The prevalence of the condition in Italy can be estimated in 115,000 cases out of 380,000 BC survivors. The Panel confirmed that the epidemiological findings of a recent pharmacoeconomic analysis of a US claims database can be applied to Italian patient population. The Panel confirmed also an estimate of 4.25 additional cases/100/yr of UTI (urinary tract infection) in VVA BC patients (vs. a non-VVA-matched population), of 3.68 additional cases of vulvovaginitis, of 6.97 cases of climacteric symptoms, and of 3.64 cases of bone and joint disorders. As far as the resource use is concerned, in the VVA BC populations, 33.4 additional gynecological visits/100/year can be expected, along with 22.8 additional cancer screenings, 7.07 additional outpatient visits and 5.04 screenings for HPV. CONCLUSIONS: Even in Italy, a diagnosis of VVA, especially in a BC population, is associated with a relevant increase in the burden of illness and social costs, compared to a control population matched for age without VVA. This is due essentially to an increase in comorbidities and resource utilization with the consequence that an adequate treatment could reduce the impact of the condition. Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2020-01-22 2020 /pmc/articles/PMC7181543/ /pubmed/31970513 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00520-019-05272-4 Text en © The Author(s) 2019 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
spellingShingle Review Article
Biglia, Nicoletta
Del Pup, Lino
Masetti, Riccardo
Villa, Paola
Nappi, Rossella E.
Vulvovaginal atrophy (VVA) in breast cancer survivors (BCS) is still an unmet medical need: results of an Italian Delphi Panel
title Vulvovaginal atrophy (VVA) in breast cancer survivors (BCS) is still an unmet medical need: results of an Italian Delphi Panel
title_full Vulvovaginal atrophy (VVA) in breast cancer survivors (BCS) is still an unmet medical need: results of an Italian Delphi Panel
title_fullStr Vulvovaginal atrophy (VVA) in breast cancer survivors (BCS) is still an unmet medical need: results of an Italian Delphi Panel
title_full_unstemmed Vulvovaginal atrophy (VVA) in breast cancer survivors (BCS) is still an unmet medical need: results of an Italian Delphi Panel
title_short Vulvovaginal atrophy (VVA) in breast cancer survivors (BCS) is still an unmet medical need: results of an Italian Delphi Panel
title_sort vulvovaginal atrophy (vva) in breast cancer survivors (bcs) is still an unmet medical need: results of an italian delphi panel
topic Review Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7181543/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31970513
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00520-019-05272-4
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