The costs of breast cancer prior to and following diagnosis

Abstract

This retrospective incidence-based cost-of-illness analysis aims to quantify the costs associated with female breast cancer in Flanders for the year prior to diagnosis and for each of the 5 years following diagnosis. A bottom-up analysis from the societal perspective included direct health care costs and indirect costs of productivity loss due to morbidity and premature mortality. A case-control study design compared total costs of breast cancer patients with costs of an equivalent standardised population with a view to calculating the additional costs that can be attributed to breast cancer. Total average costs of breast cancer amounted to 107,456 <euro> per patient over 6 years. Total costs consisted of productivity loss costs (89% of costs) and health care costs (11% of costs). Health care costs did not vary with age at diagnosis. Health care costs of breast cancer patients converged with those of the general population at 5 years following diagnosis. Patients with advanced breast cancer stadia had higher health care costs. Cost estimates provided by this analysis can be used to determine priorities for, and inform, future research on breast cancer. In particular, attention needs to be focussed on decreasing productivity loss from breast cancer.

Economic productivity loss due to breast cancer in Norway – a case control study using the human capital approach

“…They reported an incidence number of 6,623, which gives 41,500 € per case, which is only 58% of our 70,800 € estimate. Broekx et al (2010) give an estimated productivity loss of 95,600 € over five years following the diagnosis in Flanders, Belgium, which is substantially higher than our within-cohort 5-year estimate of 28,900 €. These estimates are not directly comparable, however, since the Flanders study included the value of unpaid work including housekeeping activities, which are not included in the present study.…”

“…The welfare gain for the population, in terms of longer and healthier lives, should be the main goal of such programs, but in a cost-effectiveness framework, economic benefit for the society can be interpreted as a reduction in the cost of a prevention program. The effects of breast cancer on macro-economic productivity has previously been studied in other Western-European countries, including Sweden (Lidgren et al, 2007), Flanders (Broekx et al, 2010) and Ireland (Hanly et al, 2012). These studies show that productivity loss is a substantial effect of breast cancer, which makes the issue and important one.…”

Health System Costs for Stage-Specific Breast Cancer: A Population-Based Approach

“…Our study evaluated only direct medical costs and not indirect, lost productivity, or out-of-pocket costs that are not available in the administrative data. Other work has shown that indirect costs are substantial, accounting for well over 50% of the total cost of cancer [17][18][19] . Lastly, it is evident that analyzing data within 2 years after the initial diagnosis might not accurately identify all costs and utilization of breast cancer management, because, for many patients, treatment and survival can extend beyond those 2 years.…”

Enculturation in The Life Pattern of Breast Cancer Patients: An Ethno-Nursing Study on Sundanese Women

“…This cost is related to anxiety, depression, cancer burden, marriage conflict, social negative change and family relation, and future indeterminacy. The total cost consists of that of productivity loss (89% of it) and health treatment cost (11%) (Broekx et al 2011).…”