Hospitalizations among early-stage colon cancer patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy: a real-world study

OBJECTIVE: To assess the patterns of hospitalizations among early-stage colon cancer patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy and to identify high-risk groups that may benefit from more careful monitoring in a real-world, population-based context. METHODS: This is a population-based study using linked administrative databases from the province of Alberta, Canada. Any events of hospitalization among patients with non-metastatic colon cancer undergoing upfront surgery followed by adjuvant chemotherapy were reviewed. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to examine factors associated with risk of hospitalization, and the impact of hospitalization on overall survival was assessed through Kaplan–Meier estimates and Multivariable Cox regression analysis. RESULTS: A total of 2257 patients were considered eligible and were included in the current analysis, including 483 patients (21.4%) who were hospitalized within 6 months of the start of adjuvant chemotherapy, and 1774 patients (78.6%) who were not. The following factors were associated with a higher hospitalization risk: older age (OR: 1.02; 95% CI 1.01–1.03), higher comorbidity (OR: 1.48; 95% CI 1.31–1.67), women (OR for men versus women: 0.79; 95% CI 0.64–0.98), living in the North zone (OR for Edmonton zone versus North zone: 0.60; 95% CI 0.42–0.87), and CAPOX chemotherapy (OR for CAPOX versus FOLFOX: 1.50; 95% CI 1.12–2.00). Patients with a history of hospitalization during adjuvant chemotherapy had a worse overall survival compared to patients who were not hospitalized (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: In this study, one out of five colon cancer patients were hospitalized during adjuvant chemotherapy. Older individuals, women, those with higher comorbidity, and those receiving adjuvant CAPOX were more likely to be hospitalized. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00384-021-03952-4.