Economic Burden
The economic burden of lost productivity due to premature mortality from cancer is greater than cancer treatment and represents most of the total economic burden of cancer in countries.
Costs of new cancer treatments have grown exponentially and patients are treated longer with more agents, increasing the economic burden for patients and families, health care systems, and countries. The economic burden of cancer also includes indirect costs, measured as productivity losses from cancer morbidity and premature mortality, and productivity losses among informal caregivers. These costs represent lost opportunities and resources that households and countries could otherwise invest in competing priorities.
The global economic burden of cancer from 2020 to 2050 was projected as $25.2 trillion in 2017 international dollars. Approximately half was projected in high-income countries. Countries with the highest absolute economic burden were China, the United States, and India. Countries with the highest burden as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) were Bulgaria, Monaco, and Montenegro (Map 41.1). Variation in economic burden reflects country-level differences in population size, age distribution, health care delivery, treatment patterns, employment and real wages, and cancer occurrence. Variation in household-level burden reflects differences in health systems, labor markets, and treatment patterns.
The relative contribution of treatment costs to total economic burden is greatest in North America and other high-income countries and lowest in low-income countries, signaling differences in availability and affordability of treatments.
“Requests will always exceed resources. Doing good is imperative. Doing everything is impossible.”
Productivity losses from morbidity and premature cancer mortality represent an important part of the total economic burden in all countries, with highest relative contributions in low-income countries. Even within countries, the burden varies. For example, lost earnings rates per 100,000 people from premature cancer mortality in the United States varies by state, from $19.6 million in Utah to $35.3 million in Kentucky (Map 41.2).
Analyses of the economic burden of cancer can inform priorities for cancer control resource allocation and investments to ensure a sustainable and effective health system. For example, human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination (see Vaccination) is especially cost-effective in countries where cervical cancer and other HPV-related cancers are prevalent. Similarly, effective tobacco control becomes even more cost-effective, considering accelerating treatment costs, especially in high-income countries (see Tobacco Control).