Alinezhad Farbod, Khalili Farhad, Zare Hossein, Lu Chunling, Mahmoudi Zahra, Yousefi Mahmood
Bouvé College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA.
Management Development, Resources and Planning, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Guilan, Iran.
Cost Eff Resour Alloc. 2023 Nov 6;21(1):84. doi: 10.1186/s12962-023-00493-1.
Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in males worldwide and the third most common among Iran's male population. However, there is a lack of evidence regarding its direct and indirect costs in low and middle-income countries. This study intends to bridge the gap using a cost of illness approach, assessing the costs of prostate cancer from the perspectives of patients, society, and the insurance system.
Two hundred ninety seven patients were included in the study. Data for a 2-month period were obtained from patients registered at two hospitals (Tabriz, Tehran) in Iran in 2017. We applied a prevalence-based, bottom-up approach to assess the costs of the illness. We used the World Health Organization methods to measure the prevalence and investigate the determinants of catastrophic and impoverishing health expenditures.
We determined the total costs of the disease for the patients to be IRR 68 million (PPP $ 5,244.44). Total costs of the disease from the perspective of the society amounted to IRR 700,000 million (PPP $ 54 million). Insurance companies expended IRR 20 million (PPP $ 1,558.80) per patient. Our findings show that 31% of the patients incurred catastrophic health expenditure due to the disease. Five point forty-four percent (5.44%) of the patients were impoverished due to the costs of this cancer.
We found an alarmingly high prevalence of catastrophic health expenditures among prostate cancer patients. In addition, prostate cancer puts a substantial burden on both the patients and society.
前列腺癌是全球男性中第二常见的癌症，在伊朗男性人口中位列第三。然而，在低收入和中等收入国家，关于其直接和间接成本的证据匮乏。本研究旨在采用疾病成本法填补这一空白，从患者、社会和保险系统的角度评估前列腺癌的成本。
本研究纳入了297名患者。数据来自2017年在伊朗两家医院（大不里士、德黑兰）登记的患者的两个月期间的情况。我们采用基于患病率的自下而上的方法来评估疾病成本。我们使用世界卫生组织的方法来测量患病率，并调查灾难性和致贫性医疗支出的决定因素。
我们确定患者的疾病总成本为6800万里亚尔（购买力平价5244.44美元）。从社会角度来看，该疾病的总成本达70000亿里亚尔（购买力平价5400万美元）。保险公司为每位患者支出2000万里亚尔（购买力平价1558.80美元）。我们的研究结果表明，31%的患者因该疾病产生了灾难性医疗支出。5.44%的患者因这种癌症的费用而陷入贫困。
我们发现前列腺癌患者中灾难性医疗支出的患病率高得惊人。此外，前列腺癌给患者和社会都带来了沉重负担。
