blood cancer is associated with health care costs significantly higher than other cancers

blood cancer is associated with health care costs significantly higher than other cancers -

By Kate Bass , B.Sc.

health economics, studies published today in the Lancet Haematology report that the cost of treating blood cancers is twice that for the treatment of other cancers. This is largely because they require more complex treatments that require long hospital stays.

cancer Blood is a term used to describe a range of cancers that affect blood, bone bone and lymphatic system, such as lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, multiple myeloma and leukemia Hodgkin.

blood cancers affect many people and cause the death of about 100,000 people in Europe each year. Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is the sixth most common cancer in the UK.

There are also non-blood malignant disorders such as anemia, bleeding disorders and disorders of the spleen or immune mechanism. The most common of these, anemia, affects about 1 · 6 billion people in the world. That's about one in four.

A team of health economics of researchers from Oxford University and King's College London conducted two studies to estimate the economic cost of treating blood disorders (malignant and non-malignant) in 31 European countries during 2012.

Their assessment included the costs of health care, the costs of informal care and lost productivity (due to premature death and too sick to work) obtained from international health organizations (WHO, EUROSTAT) and national databases.

Economic intelligence cancer is essential for cancer policymakers across Europe. Understanding the economic burden of blood cancers using systems to plan properly funded healthcare systems for all patients. "

Professor Richard Sullivan, King's College London.

they calculated that the cost of blood disorders in 2012 was € 23 billion. the costs of health care, especially hospital care and medications, represented 70% of these costs. the cost of the average health varied considerably between countries, with costs in Finland are almost double those in Belgium, although the two countries have a similar national income per capita.

Dr. Jose Leal from Oxford University commented " nonmalignant blood disorders cost the European economy almost as much as all handsets blood cancers. We found large differences in the cost of treating blood disorders in different countries, probably related to significant differences in access and delivery of care for patients with blood disorders. Our results suggest the need to harmonize the treatment of blood disorders across Europe in a cost effective manner. "

in comparison with other treatment types of cancer, the total costs incurred by the blood of cancer were fourth after lung cancer, breast cancer and colorectal cancer.

However, only breast cancer was associated with greater health costs as blood cancer. the average cost of treatment for blood cancer in 2012 was € 14,674 per patient. This is almost double the average cost per patient for all cancers combined.

the high cost of blood cancer treatment is probably a consequence of treatment, long-term need complex, for example, bone marrow transplants, multi-agent chemotherapy and radiation therapy, and the need for more inpatient care.

These costs are also likely to have increased newest, most expensive drugs have been approved for the treatment of blood cancer since 2012.