Treatment costs of prostate cancer in the first year after diagnosis: a short-term cost of illness study for France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK

OBJECTIVE To calculate the total cost per patient of prostate cancer treatment and the economic cost burden by stage, in the first year after diagnosis, for five European countries. METHODS Data from the Information Management Systems, Inc. database, survival data, expert opinion, published data and unit costs from various published official sources were used to calculate total costs per patient by stage for each country, from a payer's perspective. Diagnostic costs, first surgery, radio-, chemo- and hormonal therapy costs were included. Costs were aggregated for incident cases. RESULTS The mean direct costs per patient for initial treatment were 3698 in Germany, 3256 in Spain, 3682 in the UK, 5226 in Italy and 5851 in France. The total costs for all diagnosed patients in the first year from diagnosis were (million ) 116.7 (UK), 244 (Germany), 385 (France), 202 (Italy) and 114.6 (Spain). CONCLUSIONS The direct initial healthcare cost burden of the most common non-skin-related male cancer, prostate cancer, in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK is considerable. Given the high and increasing prevalence of prostate cancer due to ageing populations in Europe, and the significant cost burden of the disease, national health policy makers should be aware of prostate cancer as a priority disease area.