Global economic cost of cancer estimated to exceed $25 trillion over 30 years
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
The economic cost of cancer worldwide from 2020 to 2050 will be $25.2 trillion in international dollars, according to results of a decision analytical modeling study published in JAMA Oncology.
The estimated cost, at constant 2017 prices, equates to an annual 0.55% tax on global gross domestic product during the 30-year period, researchers wrote.
“The incidence of cancers and resultant mortality are increasing all over the world; this growth reflects population aging and the role of several risk factors such as tobacco use, alcohol use, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and air pollution,” Simiao Chen, ScD, head of the health and population economics research unit at Heidelberg Institute of Global Health at Heidelberg University, and colleagues wrote. “The health burden of cancers is distributed unevenly across countries, with high-income countries facing a greater per-population burden in terms of disability-adjusted life-years than low- and middle-income countries.”
Background and methodology
Cancers account for nearly 10 million deaths worldwide annually, but the global economic cost of all cancers — and distribution throughout the world — had not yet been studied, according to Chen and colleagues.
The researchers estimated the economic impact of 29 cancers across 204 countries and territories that represent 99.7% of the world’s population. They utilized a decision analytical model that incorporated economic feedback in assessing health outcomes associated with both the labor force and investment.
A macroeconomic model accounted for three key factors: association of cancer-related mortality and morbidity with labor supply; age-sex-specific differences in education, experience and labor market participation of those with cancer; and diversion of cancer treatment expenses from savings and investments.
The researchers calculated costs in international dollars at constant 2017 prices.
Results
The study pegged the global cost of cancer at $25.2 trillion over a 3-decade period starting in 2020. The estimate is approximately equivalent to an annual tax of 0.55% on GDP and exceeds the GDP of China in 2020, researchers wrote.
Cancers that accounted for the largest proportion of the economic cost worldwide included tracheal, bronchus and lung cancer (15.4%, $3.9 trillion); colon and rectum cancer (10.9%, $2.8 trillion); breast cancer (7.7%, $2 million); liver cancer (6.5%, $1.7 trillion) and leukemia (6.3%, $1.6 trillion).
Countries expected to face the largest economic burden from cancer in absolute terms over the 30-year time period included China (24.1% of total global cost) and the United States (20.8% of total global cost).
Three-quarters of cancer deaths (75.1%) occurred in low- and middle-income countries, although these countries accounted for only half (49.5%) of the total economic cost.
Next steps
The findings suggest a need for global efforts to reduce the cancer burden, researchers wrote.
“To our knowledge, this study is the first to account for productivity loss among people with different educational and experience levels, unlike the previous World Health Organization EPIC model,” they wrote. “Our findings suggest that investing in effective public health interventions to reduce the burden of cancers is essential for protecting global health and economic well-being.”
Such actions could include creation of universal health care coverage infrastructure and national cancer control plans, tobacco control and vaccination initiatives, and promotion of healthy diets and exercise, according to Gilberto Lopes, MD, MBA, of Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at University of Miami.
“In addition, resource-stratified evidence-based screening, diagnosis and treatment of common cancers and the creation of reference cancer centers, access to essential cancer medicines and access to palliative care, especially pain control, are needed,” Lopes wrote in an editorial that accompanied the study. “We need to apply all we already know to address the problem if we want to make a dent on the rising economic global cost of cancer. The time is now.”
References:
- Chen S, et al. JAMA Oncol. 2023;doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2022.7826.
- Lopes G, et al. JAMA Oncol. 2023;doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2022.7133.
Collapse
Read more about
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts