Cancer-related medical costs can reach more than $121,000 per year during the final year of life, according to a study published July 28 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Researchers from the American Cancer Society and National Cancer Institute analyzed Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program data from patients 66 and older who were diagnosed with cancer between 2008 and 2019.
Here are 5 notes from the study:
- Costs were highest in the end-of-life phase, followed by the first 12 months after diagnosis.
- Oral prescription drug costs rose over time across all phases, increasing most sharply during end-of-life care.
- Distant-stage cancers, including cancers with effective screening options, and acute leukemia carried the highest costs.
- First-year medical costs for early-stage colorectal and breast cancer were lower than those for advanced-stage disease.
- Costs were higher among Black patients and patients of other races than among white patients.
“Additional research is needed to better understand the long-term economic burden for patients and families,” Robin Yabroff, PhD, scientific vice president of health services research at the American Cancer Society and the study’s senior author, said in a July 28 news release.
Read the full study here.
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