Oncoeconomics

Cancer deaths cost the US $100 billion annually

Sergey Kolenov, Hi-tech+

Scientists are sure that prevention and modern methods of treatment can significantly reduce both mortality from cancer pathology and economic damage from the disease.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States. According to forecasts, more than 600,000 Americans will die from malignant tumors in 2019 alone. Such a significant figure has a serious impact on the economy, but the exact amount of losses has so far remained unknown.

A team of researchers undertook to calculate the economic burden of cancer, whose work tells Science Daily.

Article by Islami et al. National and State Estimates of Lost Earnings From Cancer Deaths in the United States are published in the journal JAMA Oncology – VM.

The basis was taken from 2015, when 492,146 cancer deaths occurred in the United States among people aged 16 to 84 years.

In total, 8,739,939 years of life were lost due to oncological diseases and $94.4 billion in lost income - excluding the costs of treatment and care.

In terms of lost income, lung cancer cost the most to the American economy – $21.3 billion. It is followed by rectal cancer ($9.4 billion), breast cancer ($6.1 billion) and pancreatic cancer ($6.1 billion).

Among the population aged 16 to 39, leukemia caused the main economic damage, and among people over 40 – lung cancer.

Losses per 100,000 population varied significantly depending on the state. For example, in Utah they amounted to $19.6 million, and in Kentucky – $35.3 million Cancer caused the highest economic damage in the southern states and on In the Midwest, and the lowest is in the west, northeast and north Hawaii.

The head of the study, Dr. Farhad Islami, notes that many types of cancer, which are costly to the economy, can be diagnosed at an early stage and treated. This means that the "cancer price" can be significantly reduced. To do this, it is necessary to apply comprehensive prevention measures and ensure access to high-quality medical care in all states.

Some types of cancer can be completely eradicated in the coming decades, experts believe. For example, in developed countries, cervical cancer will be eliminated thanks to vaccination against human papillomavirus. Unfortunately, the situation is not so rosy in poor regions of the planet.

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