The Economic Burden of Breast Cancer in Russia

Abstract

To estimate the annual costs of breast cancer (BC) in Russia We estimated annual direct medical costs (for diagnostics, treatment, follow-up and palliative care), direct non-medical costs (sick leave payments and disability pensions) and productivity losses attributable to BC from the perspective of Russian government in 2014. Calculations were done for the total population of patients, including both newly diagnosed patients stratified by cancer stage and patients diagnosed in previous years, still alive in the study year. The data for calculations were derived from national statistics, regional cancer and prescription registries, experts’ survey and published research. The cost of medical services was assessed using public health insurance rates. Value of productivity losses was calculated as the amount of GDP unproduced by the employed BC patients during working days missed due to illness, using traditional for Russian cost-of-illness studies approach to keep comparability with other studies in the same field The total annual direct medical costs of BC in Russia were €372.2 million (70% of which is the cost of chemotherapy), direct non-medical costs - €109.6 million, and productivity losses - €58.9 million, when calculated using friction cost method, and €831.8 million, when human capital method was used. The highest average medical costs were in the group of newly diagnosed patients with stage III - €5,126 per patient. Average cost per patient with stage IV was slightly lower - €5,054, probably, due to the rarer start of active cancer treatment in this group, shown by the regional cancer registry data. Average medical cost per patient with stage I and II was significantly lower - €2,828 and €3,945, respectively, and decreased to €240 for patients diagnosed in previous years. The major part of BC direct costs is related to the provision of chemotherapy