Socio-economic burden of disease: Survivorship costs for renal cell carcinoma
Menée en Allemagne, cette étude analyse les coûts associés à la prise en charge des patients ayant survécu à un carcinome à cellules rénales (durée moyenne de suivi : 10 ans)
Objective : The objective of this study is to assess the risk-stratified 10-year socio-economic burden of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) follow-up costs after initial treatment in Germany from 2000 to 2020. Methods :A micro-costing method considering direct and indirect medical expenditure associated with follow-up procedures was employed to calculate survivorship costs per patient. The frequencies of physician–patient visits, examinations and diagnostic tests were extracted from guidelines, whilst expenses were sourced from literature and official scales of tariffs. Societal costs were calculated based on three perspectives: patients, providers and insurers. Results : Mean societal 10-year follow-up costs per patient amounted to EUR 3,377 (95%CI: 2,969–3,791) for low-risk, EUR 3,367 (95%CI: 3,003–3,692) for medium-risk and EUR 4,299 (95%CI: 3,807–4,755) for high-risk RCC in 2020. Spending increased by +32% from 2000 to 2020 for low-risk RCC, whilst medium-and high-risk RCC expenditure was cut by −39% and −22%, respectively. Patients shouldered 27%, providers 43% and insurers 35% of costs in 2020. Resources were consumed by medical imaging (52%), physician-patient consultations (31%), travel expenses (17%) and blood tests (1%). Conclusion : Results highlight the economic burden cancer survivorship poses for society. Cancer survivors require individualised, evidence-based and insurance-covered follow-up schedules to permit the early detection of side-effects, metastasis and secondary malignancies.