Abstract
BackgroundBreast cancer is the leading cause of death from cancer among women in Germany. Despite its clinical and economic relevance, no attributable costs for breast cancer have been reported for Germany so far. The objective of this study is to estimate age-specific breast cancer attributable health expenditures for Germany.MethodsSickness fund data from 1999 representing about 26 million insured (i.e. 32% of the total German population) have been analysed using generalized additive models and the error propagation law. Costs have been inflated to 2010.ResultsBreast cancer attributable costs decreased with age. Among breast cancer patients aged 30–45 years, about 90% of all health expenditures were due to breast cancer, whereas in breast cancer patients aged 80–90 years, about 50% were due to breast cancer. Breast cancer attributable costs amounted to about €9,000 annually for patients below 55 years of age and declined to about €3,000 in 90-year-old breast cancer patients.ConclusionThis analysis provides estimates of attributable breast cancer costs in Germany. Compared with the international literature, the estimates were plausible but had a tendency to underestimate breast cancer attributable costs.
Highlights
Breast cancer is one of the most frequently occurring forms of cancer [1,2]
The breast cancer attributable lifetime costs, based on United States (US) Medicare data, ranged from $37,306 for women diagnosed at 65–69 years of age to $19,493 for women aged 85 years and older at diagnosis [6]
The costs are about J10,000 in 30- to 55-year-old women, costs decrease to approximately J7,000 for 70-year-old women and increase to J7,500 for 80-year-old women
Summary
Breast cancer ranks first with the highest prevalence of all cancer types, accounting for 17.9% of all cancer cases [2]. In 2004, about 370,100 new cases were registered in Europe, accounting for 12.8% of all sites except non-melanoma skin cancer [1]. In Germany, 57,000 new cases of breast cancer are registered each year. They account for 27.8% of all cancer cases in German women [3]. Breast cancer is the main cause of cancer-related deaths in women worldwide [4,5]. Breast cancer is the leading cause of death from cancer among women in Germany. Despite its clinical and economic relevance, no attributable costs for breast cancer have been reported for Germany so far. The objective of this study is to estimate age-specific breast cancer attributable health expenditures for Germany
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