School of Nursing, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA.
Psychooncology. 2012 Oct;21(10):1113-23. doi: 10.1002/pon.2009. Epub 2011 Jul 20.
A diagnosis of cancer in childhood places a considerable economic burden on families, although costs are not well described. The objectives of this study were to identify and determine independent predictors of the direct and time costs incurred by such families.
A prospective, cost-of-illness study was conducted in families of children newly diagnosed with cancer. Parents recorded the resources consumed and costs incurred during 1 week per month for three consecutive months beginning the fourth week following diagnosis and listed any additional costs incurred since then. Descriptive and multiple regression analyses were performed to describe families' costs (expressed in 2007 Canadian dollars) and to determine direct and time cost predictors.
In total, 28 fathers and 71 mothers participated. The median total direct and time costs in 3 months were $CAD3503 and $CAD23 130, respectively, per family. The largest component of direct costs was travel and of time costs was time allocated previously for unpaid activities. There were no statistically significant predictors of direct costs. Six per cent of the variance for time costs was explained by language spoken at home.
Families of children with cancer are confronted with a wide range of direct and time costs, the largest being travel and time allocated previously for unpaid activities.
儿童癌症的诊断给家庭带来了相当大的经济负担，尽管费用情况尚未得到充分描述。本研究的目的是确定并确定此类家庭直接成本和时间成本的独立预测因素。
对新诊断患有癌症的儿童的家庭进行了前瞻性疾病成本研究。父母在诊断后第四周开始的每个月记录一周内消耗的资源和发生的费用，并列出此后发生的任何额外费用。进行描述性和多元回归分析，以描述家庭的成本（以 2007 年加元表示）并确定直接和时间成本的预测因素。
共有 28 位父亲和 71 位母亲参与。3 个月的中位数直接总成本和时间总成本分别为每个家庭 3503 加元和 23130 加元。直接成本的最大组成部分是旅行，时间成本的最大组成部分是以前用于无报酬活动的时间。直接成本没有统计学意义的预测因素。时间成本的 6%可以由家庭中使用的语言来解释。
患有癌症的儿童的家庭面临着广泛的直接和时间成本，最大的成本是旅行和以前用于无报酬活动的时间。
