The economic burden of oral cancer in Iran

Abstract

BackgroundCancer is one of the leading causes of death in the world, among which, oral cancer is associated with significant morbidity, and low survival. A large part of the budget allocated to health care is attributed to cancer. In this study we aim to estimate the economic burden of oral cancer in Iran for the year 2014.MethodsIn this study, we generated a prevalence-based estimate of the cost-of-illness of oral cancer in Iran. A societal perspective was used for this study, in which the direct costs and productivity losses of oral cancer cases in 2014 were estimated. The human capital approach was adopted for estimating productivity losses. Several data sources contributed to this study, including national cancer registry reports, hospital records, occupational data, and interviews with experts.ResultNearly 53% of patients were diagnosed in an advanced stage of oral cancer. The economic burden of oral cancer was $64,245,173 most of which (50%) was attributed to productivity losses. The direct medical cost accounted for 42% of the estimated total cost. Treatment expenses for advanced stages were five times higher than the early stages ($10,532 vs. $2,225).ConclusionThe economic burden of oral cancer is high in Iran. Planning an early detection and screening program for oral cancer may potentially decrease health care costs, morbidity, and mortality.

Provider cost of treating oral potentially malignant disorders and oral cancer in Malaysian public hospitals

“…Treating Stage III and IV cancers were more expensive in the initial phase and gave rise to higher expenditure over the total management period relative to early-stage cancer and OPMD. Our results notably echoed the findings from numerous studies worldwide illustrating the higher economic burden of treating late-stage oral cancer [ 28 , 33 , 35 , 37 ]. The global trend was generally due to a higher percentage of multimodal cancer treatment and extended hospitalization in later stages.…”

“…Secondly, using hospital tariffs grossly underestimates the expenditures from fixed cost components such as shared facilities and other indirect health consequences besides elements like administrative costs as the basis for the fees list is not fully characterized. Lastly, and more importantly, the economic burden is expected to increase multifold if patient cost and loss of productivity from the disease were included [ 36 , 37 ]. Thus, the overall value of preventions may be enormous and staggering than predicted in this study.…”

The cost of oral cancer: A systematic review

“…Fourteen studies [ 18 , 19 , 21 – 23 , 25 – 27 , 32 , 34 , 35 , 37 , 39 , 41 ] evaluated all components of direct medical costs (surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, follow-up, medications, exams), and only six [ 18 , 19 , 22 , 29 , 30 , 39 ] investigated non-medical costs. Regarding indirect costs, three studies [ 18 , 28 , 30 ] evaluated absenteeism costs, two evaluated both [ 19 , 29 ] absenteeism and early death, and one investigated early death costs [ 31 ]. None of them estimated presenteeism costs ( Table 4 ).…”

The economic consequences of practice style variation in providing medical interventions: A systematic review of the literature

“…This is estimated in studies of the economic burden. [ 38 39 40 ] In addition, the present study did not address the inequity issued caused by PSV and often focused on the PSV-related efficacy and welfare losses. However, one of the major aspects of health policy is to pay attention to the inequity dimension and the effects of PSV management on reducing inefficiencies in patient clinical outcomes both.…”