• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.84-93
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• 2014

Objectives: The incidence and survival rate of colorectal cancer in Korea are increasing because of improved screening, treatment technologies, and lifestyle changes. In this aging population, increases in economic cost result. This study was conducted to estimate the economic burden of colorectal cancer utilizing claims data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. Methods: Economic burdens of colorectal cancer were estimated using prevalence data and patients were defined as those who received ambulatory treatment from medical institutions or who had been hospitalized due to colorectal cancer under the International Classification of Disease 10th revision codes from C18-C21. The economic burdens of colorectal cancer were calculated as direct costs and indirect costs. Results: The prevalence rate (per 100 000 people) of those who were treated for colorectal cancer during 2010 was 165.48. The economic burdens of colorectal cancer in 2010 were 3 trillion and 100 billion Korean won (KRW), respectively. Direct costs included 1 trillion and 960 billion KRW (62.85%), respectively and indirect costs were 1 trillion and 160 billion (37.15%), respectively. Conclusions: Colorectal cancer has a large economic burden. Efforts should be made to reduce the economic burden of the disease through primary and secondary prevention.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.17
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• pp.7401-7407
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• 2015

Cervical cancer continues to be a serious public health problem in the developing world, including China. Because of its large population with geographical and socioeconomic inequities, China has a high burden of cervical cancer and important disparities among different regions. In this review, we first present an overview of the cervical cancer incidence and mortality over time, and focus on diversity and disparity in access to care for various subpopulations across geographical regions and socioeconomic strata in China. Then, we describe population-based cervical cancer screening in China, and in particular implementation of the National Cervical Cancer Screening Program in Rural Areas (NACCSPRA) and the challenges that this program faces. These include low screening coverage, shortage of qualified health care personnel and limited funds. To improve prevention of cervical cancer and obtain better cancer outcomes, the Chinese government needs to urgently consider the following key factors: reducing disparities in health care access, collecting accurate and broadly representative data in cancer registries, expanding target population size and increasing allocation of government funding for training of personnel, improving health education for women, enhancing quality control of screening services and improving a system to increase follow up for women with positive results.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.7
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• pp.4015-4023
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• 2013

Cancer of the cervix is the third most common cancer in women worldwide, more than 85% of the cases occurring in developing countries such as China. In China, since a national cancer registry is already set up but with geographically limited data generated, the burden of cervical cancer is believed to be underestimated. High-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) prevalence among women attending routine cervical cancer screening programs has been shown to correlate well with cervical cancer incidence rates based on independently obtained HPV prevalence data as well as findings for the worldwide cervical cancer burden. Therefore, reviewing data on HR-HPV prevalence in population-based screening studies and hospital-based case studies will be important in the context of better understanding the cervical cancer burden and for the evaluation of the potential impact of HPV vaccination in the country. With the advent of prophylactic vaccines, significant progress is likely to be made in cervical cancer prevention. This article reviews available data on the HPV epidemiology over a 12-year time period (2001-2012) in mainland China under different epidemiological aspects: by age group of study population, by ethnicity, by geographic area, as well as time period. The authors also review the potential acceptability of HPV vaccination among Chinese women.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.13
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• pp.5499-5505
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• 2015

Background: Providing care for hematologic cancer patients may lead to many negative complications in different aspects of life in their family caregivers. Based on a wide review of relevant literature, there are limited data about the burden of giving care for hematologic cancer patients on their primary family caregivers in Iran or other Middle Eastern countries. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the cancer care burden on primary family caregivers of hematologic cancer patients, in terms of physical, psychological, social, spiritual, and financial aspects. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study, 151 primary family caregivers of hematologic cancer patients referred to two cancer care centers in East Azerbaijan Province in northwest of Iran participated. The Financial Distress/Financial Well-being Scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Vaux Social Support Questionnaire, Spiritual Well-being Scale, and SF-36 were used for data collection. Data analysis was performed with SPSS software. Results: The findings of this study indicated that the primary family caregivers experience a high level of financial distress and a significant percentage of them suffered from anxiety and depression. In addition, the physical quality of life in these caregivers was moderate. On the other hand, spiritual health and social support of participants was at an acceptable level. Conclusions: Iranian primary family caregivers of hematologic cancer patients experience many problems in physical, psychological, and financial aspects of their life. Therefore, developing care plans for reducing these problems appears necessary.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.17
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• pp.7743-7748
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• 2015

Background: Thyroid tumors are generally regarded as rare malignancies. Nowadays, however, their global incidence is growing continuously partially due to western life style and utilization of more sensitive methods of early detection. It is approximately three times more prevalent in females than in males. Most cases of thyroid cancer are asymptomatic nodules or just have local cervical symptoms or adenopathy in early stages. Materials and Methods: The Global Burden of Diseases report 2010 study (released 3/2013) profited from 100 collaborators worldwide and used a vast network of data on health outcomes, vital registries, and population surveys. It shared many of the Global Burden of Diseases 1990 principal databases such as all available data on injuries, diseases, risk factors, as well as comparable metrics, and used different scientific approved methods to estimate important health status data like: death rate, life expectancy, healthy adjusted life expectancy, disability-adjusted life years (DALY), years of living lost due to premature death and years of life with disabilities. Results: DALY as thyroid cancer burden per 100,000 Iranian populations had increased by about 14% during 1990 to 2010 in all ages; from 6.1 (95% UI 4.2-9.74) years in 1990 to 6.95 (95% UI 5.06-9.18) years in 2010 in both sex. The 2010 peak age-group was estimated at 45-49 years in males and 40-45 years in females.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.265-270
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• 2015

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is amongst the top three cancer causes of death worldwide with hepatitis B and C viruses (HBV/HCV) as the main etiological agents. An up-to-date descriptive epidemiology of the burden of HBV/HCV-associated HCC in the Arab world is lacking. We therefore determined the burden of HBV/HCV-associated HCC deaths in the Arab world using the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2010 dataset. GBD 2010 provides, for the first time, deaths specifically attributable to viral-associated HCC. We analyzed the data for the 22 Arab countries by age, sex and economic status from 1990 to 2010 and compared the findings to global trends. Our analysis revealed that in 2010, an estimated 752,101 deaths occurred from HCC worldwide. Of these 537,093 (71%) were from HBV/HCV-associated HCC. In the Arab world, 17,638 deaths occurred from HCC of which 13,558 (77%) were HBV/HCV-linked. From 1990 to 2010, the burden of HBV and HCV-associated HCC deaths in the Arab world increased by 137% and 216% respectively, compared to global increases of 62% and 73%. Age-standardized death rates also increased in most of the Arab countries, with the highest rates noted in Mauritania and Egypt. Male gender and low economic status correlated with higher rates. These findings indicate that the burden of HBV/HCV-associated HCC in the Arab world is rising at a much faster rate than rest of the world and urgent public health measures are necessary to abate this trend and diminish the impact on already stretched regional healthcare systems.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.87 no.3
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• pp.234-251
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• 2024

Globally, providing evidence on the economic burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is becoming essential as it assists the health authorities to efficiently allocate resources. This study aimed to summarize the literature on economic burden evidence for COPD from 1990 to 2019. This study examined the economic burden of COPD through a systematic review of studies from 1990 to 2019. A search was done in online databases, including Web of Science, PubMed/Medline, Scopus, and the Cochrane Library. After screening 12,734 studies, 43 articles that met the inclusion criteria were identified. General study information and data on direct, indirect, and intangible costs were extracted and converted to 2018 international dollars (Int$). Findings revealed that the total direct costs ranged from Int$ 52.08 (India) to Int$ 13,776.33 (Canada) across 16 studies, with drug costs rannging from Int$ 70.07 (Vietnam) to Int$ 8,706.9 (China) in 11 studies. Eight studies explored indirect costs, while one highlighted caregivers' direct costs at approximately Int$ 1,207.8 (Greece). This study underscores the limited research on COPD caregivers' economic burdens, particularly in developing countries, emphasizing the importance of increased research support, particularly in high-resource settings. This study provides information about the demographics and economic burden of COPD from 1990 to 2019. More strategies to reduce the frequency of hospital admissions and acute care services should be implemented to improve the quality of COPD patients' lives and reduce the disease's rising economic burden.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.305-308
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• 2012

Objective: To assess the health and economic burden of human papillomavirus (HPV)-related diseases (cervical cancer, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) 1/2/3, and genital warts) in Singapore over a period of 25 years beginning in 2008. Methods: Incidence-based modeling was used to estimate the incidence cases and associated economic burden, with the assumption that age-stratified incidence rates will remain the same throughout the period of 25 years. The incidence rates in 2008 were projected based on data obtained from the National Cancer Registry for cervical cancer, and from a combination of published data and hospital registry review for CIN1/2/3 and genital warts. The population growth rate was factored into the projection of incidence cases over time. Direct cost data per cervical cancer and per CIN1/2/3 case were obtained from the financial database of large local hospitals while cost data for genital warts were obtained from the National Skin Center; these costs were multiplied by the number of incidence cases to produce an aggregate estimate of the economic burden over the 25-year period (in 2008 Singapore dollars) using a 3% discount rate. Results: The total number of incidence cases of HPV-disease over 25 years beginning in 2008 was estimated to be 60,183, including 8,078 for cervical cancer, 11,685 for CIN 2/3, 8,849 for CIN1, and 31,572 for genital warts. The estimated total direct cost was 83.2 million Singapore Dollars over 25 years: 57.6 million attributable to cervical cancer, 13.0 million to CIN2/3, 6.83 million to CIN1, and 5.70 million to genital warts. Conclusion: HPV-related diseases are expected to impose significant health and economic burden on the Singapore healthcare resources in the next 25 years.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.2131-2136
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• 2016

Background: Cancer is currently one of the main public health problems all over the world and its economic burden is substantial both for health systems and for society as a whole. To inform priorities for cancer control, we here estimated years of potential life lost (YPLL) and productivity losses due to cancer-related premature mortality in Iran from 2006 to 2010. Materials and Methods: The number of cancer deaths by sex and age groups for top ten leading cancers in Iran were obtained from the Ministry of Health and Medical Education. To estimate the YPLL and the cost of productivity loss due to cancer-related premature mortality, the life expectancy method and the human capital approach were used, respectively. Results: There were 138,228 cancer-related deaths in Iran (without Tehran province) of which 76 % (106,954) were attributable to the top 10 ranked cancers. Some 63 % of total cancer-related deaths were of males. The top 10 ranked cancers resulted in 106,766,942 YPLL in total, 64,171,529 (60 %) in males and 42,595,412 (40%) in females. The estimated YPPLL due to top 10 ranked cancers was 58,581,737 during the period studied of which 32,214,524 (54%) was accounted for in males. The total cost of lost productivity caused by premature deaths because of top 10 cancers was 1.68 billion dollars (US$) from 2006 to 2010, ranging from 251 million dollars in 2006 to 283 million dollars in 2010. Conclusions: This study showed that the economic burden of premature mortality attributable to cancer is significant for Iranian society. The findings provide useful information about the economic impact of cancer for health system policy/decision makers and should facilitate planning of preventive intervention and effective resource allocation.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1525-1531
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• 2012

Cigarette smoking is one of the most important public health concerns in Korea and worldwide. A number of studies have been conducted to measure the health and economic burden of smoking, but these did not reflect recent changes such as the decrease in smoking rate and the increase in the incidence of cancer. The purpose of this study was to provide up-to-date estimates of the health and economic burden of cancer caused by smoking and to compare the results with those of previous studies. Cancer-related burden was assessed with nationally representative data such as claims data from the National Health Insurance Corporation, and cause of death records from the National Statistical Office and the Korea Health Panel. We determined the smoking-attributable burden by multiplying the smoking-attributable fraction by the total burden. As a result, the burden of major cancers due to smoking was found to be substantial despite a recent sharp decrease in smoking by the Korean population. The total economic cost reaches $2,234.0 million in males and $870.0 million in females. Also, the health burden of cancers due to smoking is 2,038.9 disability adjusted life years (DALYs) per 100,000 individuals in men and 732.2 DALYs per 100,000 individuals in women. Among all cancers, cancers of the trachea, lungs and bronchus are the leading causes of health and economic burden. The huge burden caused by cancers linked to smoking makes it imperative that adequate policies to decrease the prevalence of smoking be developed, particularly considering the recent increase in smoking rate among women.