Zahid Mahmood Hafiz, Khaliq Imran Hameed, Bhatti Zafar Iqbal, Wilson Kimberly J, Gondal Khalid Masood, Malik Summaira, Zaman Shakila
Department of Economics, COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore Campus, Pakistan.
J BUON. 2018 Dec;23(7):28-33.
Health care costs attributable to breast cancer are substantial. In countries with high poverty, lack of public health infrastructure and low availability of health insurance, the economic burden of disease does not accrue solely to health care, but also on patients and their families. This study was conducted to explore the cost burden (i.e. direct medical costs, direct non-medical costs and indirect non-medical costs) incurred by breast cancer patients and their families over diagnosis and treatment.
Data was collected from 200 breast cancer patients at two hospitals in Lahore, provincial capital of Punjab, Pakistan, by employing purposive sampling technique. Costs were aggregated into three categories and compared with each other as per their weightage.
The study found that direct medical care (US$ 1262.18/ Local currency (PKR) 129,717) is the largest expense, followed by direct non-medical (US$ 310.88 / PKR 31,950) and indirect non-medical costs (US$ 273.38 / PKR 28,096).
The results of this study provide rich insight into the financial burden borne by households of breast cancer patients and suggest policy implications.
乳腺癌导致的医疗保健成本巨大。在贫困程度高、缺乏公共卫生基础设施且医疗保险覆盖率低的国家，疾病的经济负担不仅落在医疗保健上，也落在患者及其家庭身上。本研究旨在探讨乳腺癌患者及其家庭在诊断和治疗过程中产生的成本负担（即直接医疗成本、直接非医疗成本和间接非医疗成本）。
采用立意抽样技术，从巴基斯坦旁遮普省省会拉合尔的两家医院的200名乳腺癌患者中收集数据。成本被汇总为三类，并根据其权重相互比较。
研究发现，直接医疗护理（1262.18美元/当地货币（巴基斯坦卢比）129,717）是最大的开支，其次是直接非医疗（310.88美元/巴基斯坦卢比31,950）和间接非医疗成本（273.38美元/巴基斯坦卢比28,096）。
本研究结果为乳腺癌患者家庭所承担的经济负担提供了丰富的见解，并提出了政策建议。
