Predictors of Unplanned Hospitalizations in Patients With Nonmetastatic Lung Cancer During Chemotherapy.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES: To determine predictors of unplanned hospitalizations in patients with lung cancer to receive chemotherapy in the outpatient setting and examine the potential financial burden of these events.
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DESIGN: Retrospective, longitudinal cohort study.
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SETTING: The National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare linked database.
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SAMPLE: Of 104,388 incident cases of lung cancer diagnosed from 2005-2009, 2,457 cases of patients with lung cancer who received outpatient chemotherapy were identified. Patients were aged 66 years or older at diagnosis, had uninterrupted Medicare Part A and B coverage with no health maintenance organization enrollment, and received IV chemotherapy at least once.
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METHODS: Generalized estimating equations was used.
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MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES: Patient age, sex, race, marital status, degree of residential urbanization, median income, education level, stage, receipt of radiation therapy, and comorbidities.
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FINDINGS: Younger age, non-White race, lower education, higher income, receipt of radiation therapy, and lack of preexisting comorbidity were significant predictors of the likelihood of an initial unplanned hospitalization for lung cancer. Non-White race, receipt of radiation therapy, and comorbidity were factors associated with an increased number of hospitalizations. 
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CONCLUSIONS: Unplanned hospitalizations are frequent, disruptive, and costly. This article defines areas for further exploration to identify patients at high risk for unexpected complications. 
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IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING: This article represents a foundation for development of risk models to enable nursing evaluation of patient risk for chemotherapy treatment interruption and unplanned hospitalization.