A prospective health economic evaluation to determine the productivity loss due to premature mortality from oral cancer in India.

Abstract

India contributes two-thirds of the global mortality due to oral cancer and has a younger population at risk. The societal costs of this premature mortality are barely discussed. Using the human capital approach, we aimed to estimate the productivity lost due to premature mortality, valued using individual socioeconomic data, related to oral cancer in India. A bottom-up approach was used to prospectively collect data of 100 consecutive patients with oral cancer treated between 2019 and 2020, with a follow-up of 36 months. The disease-specific survival for early and advanced stage was 85% and 70%, with a median age of 47 years. With 671 years lost prematurely, the loss of productivity was $41 900/early and $96 044/advanced stage. Based on population level rates, the total cost of premature mortality was $5.6 billion, representing 0.18% of GDP. India needs to implement tailored strategies to reduce the economic burden from premature mortality.