Economic Burden of Gastric Cancer: A Case of Iran

Abstract

Purpose: Today, cancers have become a major cause of mortality in developed and developing countries. Among various cancers, gastric cancer imposes a huge economic burden on patients, their families, and on the health-care system. This study aimed to determine the economic burden of gastric cancer in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad province of Iran in 2016. Methods: This was a cross-sectional cost of illness study conducted in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad province of Iran in 2016, using a prevalence-based approach. All patients were studied using the census method (N = 110). The required data on direct medical, direct nonmedical, and indirect costs were collected using a data collection form from the patients’ medical records, tariffs of diagnostic, and therapeutic services approved by the Ministry of Health and Medical Education in 2016. Results: The total cost and burden of gastric cancer in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad province of Iran in 2016 were $US436 237, among which the majority were direct medical costs (59%). The highest costs among direct medical costs, direct nonmedical costs, and indirect costs were, respectively, related to the costs of medications used by the patients (35%), transportation (31%), and absence of patients’ families from work and daily activities caused by patient care (56%). Conclusion: Our study has revealed for the first time high costs of gastric cancer in Iran. To decrease the total costs and burden, the following suggestions can be made: increasing insurance coverage and government subsidies for purchasing necessary medications, providing the required specialized care and services related to cancer diseases such as gastric cancer in other provincial cities rather than just in capital cities, and so on.

Economic Burden of Colorectal Cancer: A Case of Fars, Iran

“…and this caused their accommodation costs to increase significantly. The results of this study are inconsistent with those of Vahdatimanesh et al (2017) 14 and Eghdami et al (2019) 28 who stated that the highest direct non-medical costs were those of transportation and travel.…”

“…In addition, Eghdami et al (2019) carried out a study on gastric cancer patients and stated that most of them were male, in the age group of 55 to 65 years, farmers, married, illiterate or with primary education level, and covered by rural health insurance. 28 …”

Wage losses among spouses of women with nonmetastatic breast cancer

“…Previous studies addressing the extent of spouse wage losses differed in the types of cancer considered (eg, any type, lung cancer, and colorectal cancer), included mixed stages of disease or focused only on advanced disease, and were conducted in countries with different insurance and health care systems (eg, Canada, the United States, China, and Norway) . In these studies, wage loss estimates were calculated for different time periods (range, 1 day of work to 8 years after diagnosis) and with various data sources (self‐reported data and administrative databases) and methods of valuing time lost from work.…”

“…Previous studies addressing the extent of spouse wage losses differed in the types of cancer considered (eg, any type, lung cancer, and colorectal cancer), included mixed stages of disease or focused only on advanced disease, and were conducted in countries with different Cancer March 1, 2020 insurance and health care systems (eg, Canada, the United States, China, and Norway). [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] In these studies, wage loss estimates were calculated for different time periods (range, 1 day of work to 8 years after diagnosis) and with various data sources (self-reported data and administrative databases) and methods of valuing time lost from work. In 1 case, caregiver wage losses were determined to assess the incremental loss from metastatic breast cancer versus nonmetastatic breast cancer, although whether the reason for leave was breast cancer was not documented.…”

“…3 Recent systematic 9 and scoping reviews 10 have reported that cancer negatively affects the employment of spouses of patients with cancer in terms of decreased productivity and work absences. Although a few studies have estimated how decreased productivity and work absences translate into spouses' wage losses, [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] most have focused on cancers other than breast cancer 17,18,[24][25][26] or mixed groups including breast cancer with varying disease stages 11,12,[14][15][16]23 Cancer March 1, 2020 or only advanced disease, 13,[19][20][21][22] and this makes it impossible to isolate specifically the effect of nonmetastatic breast cancer on spouse wage losses. Thus, information is needed to understand the extent to which spouses experience wage losses as a result of nonmetastatic breast cancer.…”