The cost of newly diagnosed breast cancer in Lithuania, 2011

Background and objective: Although the cost of treating women with breast cancer (BC) is an important component for cost saving and effectiveness in relation to the benefits of BC treatment interventions, there is limited information on the direct cost reported for BC in Lithuania. Therefore the aim of this study was to evaluate annual direct medical cost for newly diagnosed BC in Lithuania in the year 2011.
Materials and methods: The retrospective incidence-based top-down direct cost analysis was used. From January 1 to December 31, 2011 incident cases of BC (N = 1142) registered by the National Health Insurance Fund, the stage determined by Lithuanian Cancer Registry were included in the study.
Results: The total average direct cost of BC amounted per patient was2580 (95% CI 2444–2752) EUR in 2011. The main cost driver per BCpatients was the inpatient hospital stay, respectively 1655 (95% CI 1478–2334) EUR. The average outpatient cost for one BC patient was 564 (95% CI 547–898) EUR. The dominant proportion of inpatient expenditureswas assigned to BC surgery and chemotherapy treatment. The BC direct medical cost increased according to the diagnosed stage of diseases from2409 (95% CI 2196–2621) EUR in stage 1 to3688 (95% CI 2703–4672) EUR in stage 4. The direct medical cost was inversely proportional to age.
Conclusions: The direct BC medical cost estimates provided by this analysis can be used to determine priorities for the future research on BC treatment interventions.