JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer (LC) are both detrimental diseases that present great burdens on society. Life Years Lost (LYL), Premature Life Years Lost (PLYL), Working Years Lost (WYL), and productivity loss are all effective measures in identifying economic burden of disease.

Objective:

We propose a population-based study to analyze comprehensive provincial cohorts of Saskatchewan residents with COPD, LC, and combined COPD and LC in order to identify the burden these diseases present.

Methods:

Saskatchewan residents over the age of 35 who had COPD, LC, or both between January 1st, 2000 and December 31st, 2015 will be identified and used in this study. Data for analysis including age, gender and date of death, alongside StatCan income estimates, will be used to estimate productivity loss and WYL. StatCan lifetables will be used to calculate LYL and PLYL by subtracting the patients’ ages at death by their life expectancies, adjusted using sex and age at death. We will link the Saskatchewan Cancer Registry with Saskatchewan Health Administrative Databases to create three cohorts: COPD, LC, and COPD & LC. Individuals with LC will be identified using ICDO-T codes and individuals with COPD will be defined and identified as individuals who had at least one visit to a physician with a diagnosis of COPD or one hospital separation with a diagnosis of COPD. Those without valid healthcare coverage for a consecutive 12 months prior to the first diagnostic code will be excluded from the study. Individuals with a combined diagnosis of COPD and LC will be identified as individuals who were diagnosed with COPD in the year of, or prior to, their LC diagnosis.

Results:

As of April 2021, we have access to all relevant data for this study, have received funding (January 2020), and have begun the preliminary analysis of our dataset.

Conclusions:

It is well documented that COPD and LC are both destructive diseases in terms of LYL, PYLL, WYL, and productivity loss, but no studies have been conducted to analyze a cohort with combined COPD and LC. Understanding the economic burden associated with each of our three cohorts is necessary in understanding and thus, reducing the societal impact of COPD and LC.