Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Feb;9(1):23-32.

Comparison of Treatment Costs for Breast Cancer, by Tumor Stage and Type of Service

Helen Blumen  1 , Kathryn Fitch  1 , Vincent Polkus  2
Affiliations

Comparison of Treatment Costs for Breast Cancer, by Tumor Stage and Type of Service

Helen Blumen et al. Am Health Drug Benefits. 2016 Feb.

Abstract

Background: Diagnosis of breast cancer at early stages is associated with better clinical and survival outcomes. How the costs of care vary depending on the stage at which breast cancer was diagnosed has not been thoroughly examined.

Objective: To quantify the stage-dependent average per capita cost of breast cancer treatment for a commercially insured population of women with newly diagnosed breast cancer.

Methods: This retrospective analysis of claims data was based on a population selected from the Truven Healthcare MarketScan commercial claims database. The study comprised women aged 18 to 64 years with breast cancer who had ≥2 claims in 2010 that were ≥30 days apart and included an International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision diagnosis code for breast cancer (174.xx, 233.0) in any position of the claim. Two years of postdiagnosis claims data were analyzed by stage at diagnosis (ie, 0, I/II, III, and IV).

Results: In total, 8360 women met the criteria for study inclusion (stage 0, N = 2300; stage I/II, N = 4425; stage III, N = 1134; and stage IV, N = 501). The costs were higher for patients whose cancer was more advanced at diagnosis, for all cumulative 6-month periods (months 0-6, 0-12, 0-18, and 0-24). The average costs per patient allowed by the insurance company in the year after diagnosis were $60,637, $82,121, $129,387, and $134,682 for disease stage 0, I/II, III, and IV, respectively. The average costs allowed per patient in the 24 months after the index diagnosis were $71,909, $97,066, $159,442, and $182,655 for disease stage 0, I/II, III, and IV, respectively. The cost difference based on the stage at diagnosis was largely driven by the cost of chemotherapy and noncancer treatments.

Conclusion: Treating advanced- versus early-stage breast cancer is associated with significant increases in incremental costs. Knowledge of the relevant stage-specific cost data provides support for strengthening programs, such as breast cancer screening, that are designed to shift breast cancer diagnosis to earlier disease stages.

Keywords: breast cancer; cancer stage; cost; diagnosis.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. National Cancer Institute. SEER stat fact sheets: female breast cancer: statistics at a glance. http://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/breast.html. Accessed December 23, 2015.
    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Lung cancer. Updated September 16, 2015. www.cdc.gov/cancer/lung/index.htm. Accessed December 23, 2015.
    1. National Cancer Institute. Table 4.13: Cancer of the female breast (invasive): 5-year relative and period survival by race, diagnosis year, age and stage at diagnosis. http://seer.cancer.gov/csr/1975_2012/browse_csr.php?sectionSEL=4&pageSEL.... Accessed December 23, 2015.
    1. Eddy DM. Screening for breast cancer. Ann Intern Med. 1989;. 111: 389–399. - PubMed
    1. National Committee for Quality Assurance. The state of health care quality 2014. http://store.ncqa.org/index.php/catalog/product/view/id/2341/s/2015-stat.... Accessed December 23, 2015.

LinkOut - more resources