Cited by 56Economic and Financial Impacts of CancerHealth Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of LifeGlobal Cancer Incidence and Screening

The Economic Burden of Cancer in Canada from a Societal Perspective

Open access
Garaszczuk, Roxanne, Yong, Jean H. E., Sun, Zhuolu, de Oliveira, Claire·2022·Current Oncology

Abstract

Cancer patients and their families experience considerable financial hardship; however, the current published literature on the economic burden of cancer at the population level has typically focused on the costs from the health system’s perspective. This study aims to estimate the economic burden of cancer in Canada from a societal perspective. The analysis was conducted using the OncoSim-All Cancers model, a Canadian cancer microsimulation model. OncoSim simulates cancer incidence and deaths using incidence and mortality data from the Canadian Cancer Registry and demography projections from Statistics Canada. Using a phase-based costing framework, we estimated the economic burden of cancer in Canada in 2021 by incorporating published direct health system costs and patients’ and families’ costs (out-of-pocket costs, time costs, indirect costs). From a societal perspective, cancer-related costs were CAD 26.2 billion in Canada in 2021; 30% of costs were borne by patients and their families. The economic burden was the highest in the first year after cancer was diagnosed (i.e., initial care). During this time, patients and families’ costs amounted to almost CAD 4.8 billion in 2021. This study provides a comprehensive estimate of the economic burden of cancer, which could inform cost–benefit analyses of proposed cancer prevention interventions.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.3390/curroncol29040223

Cites

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet

References 29 · Cited by 56

Research works printed but not linked: 27

  1. [1]The Public Health Agency of Canada Release notice—Canadian Cancer Statistics 2021 Health Promot. Chronic Dis. Prev. Can. 2021 41 399 10.24095/hpcdp.41.11.09 PMC6756131 31517469 · DOI
  2. [2]de Oliveira C. Bremner K.E. Pataky R. Gunraj N. Haq M. Chan K. Cheung W.Y. Hoch J.S. Peacock S. Krahn M.D. Trends in use and cost of initial cancer treatment in Ontario: A population-based descriptive study Can. Med. Assoc. J. 2013 1 151 158 10.9778/cmajo.20130041 25077117 PMC3986020 · DOI
  3. [3]Landwehr M.S. Watson S.E. Macpherson C.F. Novak K.A. Johnson R.H. The cost of cancer: A retrospective analysis of the financial impact of cancer on young adults Cancer Med. 2016 5 863 870 10.1002/cam4.657 26853096 PMC4864815 · DOI
  4. [4]Mahon K. The Financial Impact of Cancer in Canadian Young Adults Master’s Thesis Memorial University of Newfoundland St. John’s, NL, Canada 2020
  5. [5]de Oliveira C. Bremner K.E. Pataky R. Gunraj N. Haq M. Chan K. Cheung W.Y. Hoch J.S. Peacock S. Krahn M.D. The economic burden of cancer care in Canada: A population-based cost study Can. Med. Assoc. J. 2018 6 E1 E10 10.9778/cmajo.20170144 PMC5878959 29301745 · DOI
  6. [6]Iragorri N. de Oliveira C. Fitzgerald N. Essue B.M. The indirect cost burden of cancer care in Canada: A systematic literature review Appl. Health Econ. Health Policy 2021 19 325 341 10.1007/s40258-020-00619-z 33368032 PMC8060233 · DOI
  7. [7]Iragorri N. de Oliveira C. Fitzgerald N. Essue B.M. The out-of-pocket cost burden of cancer care—A systematic literature review Curr. Oncol. 2021 28 1216 1248 10.3390/curroncol28020117 33804288 PMC8025828 · DOI
  8. [8]Essue B.M. Iragorri N. Fitzgerald N. de Oliveira C. The psychosocial cost burden of cancer: A systematic literature review Psycho-oncology 2020 29 1746 1760 10.1002/pon.5516 32783287 PMC7754376 · DOI
  9. [9]Longo C.J. Fitch M.I. Loree J.M. Carlson L.E. Turner D. Cheung W.Y. Gopaul D. Ellis J. Ringash J. Mathews M. Patient and family financial burden associated with cancer treatment in Canada: A national study Support Care Cancer 2021 29 3377 3386 10.1007/s00520-020-05907-x 33403399 PMC8062343 · DOI
  10. [10]de Oliveira C. Pataky R. Bremner K.E. Rangrej J. Chan K.K.W. Cheung W.Y. Hoch J.S. Peacock S. Krahn M.D. Phase-specific and lifetime costs of cancer care in Ontario, Canada BMC Cancer 2016 16 809 10.1186/s12885-016-2835-7 27756310 PMC5070134 · DOI
  11. [11]Yabroff K.R. Lamont E.B. Mariotto A. Warren J.L. Topor M. Meekins A. Brown M.L. Cost of care for elderly cancer patients in the United States J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 2008 100 630 641 10.1093/jnci/djn103 18445825 · DOI
  12. [12]Yabroff K.R. Warren J.L. Knopf K. Davis W.W. Brown M.L. Estimating patient time costs associated with colorectal cancer care Med. Care 2005 43 640 648 10.1097/01.mlr.0000167177.45020.4a 15970778 · DOI
  13. [13]Yabroff K.R. Mariotto A. Tangka F. Zhao J. Islami F. Sung H. Sherman R.L. Henley S.J. Jemal A. Ward E.M. Annual report to the nation on the status of cancer, part 2: Patient economic burden associated with cancer care J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 2021 113 1670 1682 10.1093/jnci/djab192 34698839 PMC9891103 · DOI
  14. [14]Pisu M. Azuero A. McNees P. Burkhardt J. Benz R. Meneses K. The out of pocket cost of breast cancer survivors: A review J. Cancer Surviv. 2010 4 202 209 10.1007/s11764-010-0125-y 20401542 PMC2922410 · DOI
  15. [15]de Oliveira C. Bremner K.E. Ni A. Alibhai S.M.H. Laporte A. Krahn M.D. Patient time and out-of-pocket costs for long-term prostate cancer survivors in Ontario, Canada J. Cancer Surviv. 2014 8 9 20 10.1007/s11764-013-0305-7 23975612 · DOI
  16. [16]Dumont S. Jacobs P. Turcotte V. Turcotte S. Johnston G. Palliative care costs in Canada: A descriptive comparison of studies of urban and rural patients near end of life Palliat. Med. 2015 29 908 917 10.1177/0269216315583620 26040484 · DOI
  17. [18]Jeon S.H. The long-term effects of cancer on employment and earnings J. Health Econ. 2017 26 671 684 10.1002/hec.3342 27045223 · DOI
  18. [19]Ferrell B.R. Temel J.S. Temin S. Alesi E.R. Balboni T.A. Basch E.M. Firn J.I. Paice J.A. Peppercorn J.M. Phillips T. Integration of palliative care into standard oncology care: American society of clinical oncology clinical practice guideline update J. Clin. Oncol. 2017 35 96 112 10.1200/JCO.2016.70.1474 28034065 · DOI
  19. [23]Bradley C.J. Neumark D. Luo Z. Bednarek H. Schenk M. Employment outcomes of men treated for prostate cancer J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 2005 97 958 965 10.1093/jnci/dji171 15998948 · DOI
  20. [24]Nieuwenhuijsen K. Bos-Ransdorp B. Uitterhoeve L.L.J. Sprangers M.A.G. Verbeek J.H.A.M. Enhanced provider communication and patient education regarding return to work in cancer survivors following curative treatment: A pilot study J. Occup. Rehabil. 2006 16 647 657 10.1007/s10926-006-9057-9 17063404 · DOI
  21. [25]Baker M.S. Kessler L.G. Urban N. Smucker R.C. Estimating the treatment costs of breast and lung cancer Med. Care 1991 29 40 49 10.1097/00005650-199101000-00004 1986176 · DOI
  22. [26]Yu M. Guerriere D.N. Coyte P.C. Societal costs of home and hospital end-of-life care for palliative care patients in Ontario, Canada Health Soc. Care Community 2015 23 605 618 10.1111/hsc.12170 25443659 · DOI
  23. [28]Jung Y.L. Tompa E. Longo C. Kalcevich C. Kim J. Song C. Demers P. The economic burden of bladder cancer due to occupational exposure J. Occup. Environ. Med. 2018 60 217 225 10.1097/JOM.0000000000001242 29271836 · DOI
  24. [31]Mofidi A. Tompa E. Spencer J. Kalcevich C. Peters C.E. Kim J. Song C. Mortazavi S.B. Demers P.A. The economic burden of occupational non-melanoma skin cancer due to solar radiation J. Occup. Environ. Hyg. 2018 15 481 491 10.1080/15459624.2018.1447118 29695213 · DOI
  25. [32]Longo C.J. Fitch M. Deber R.B. Williams A.P. Financial and family burden associated with cancer treatment in Ontario, Canada Support Care Cancer 2006 14 1077 1085 10.1007/s00520-006-0088-8 16896878 · DOI
  26. [33]Athas W.F. Adams-Cameron M. Hunt W.C. Amir-Fazli A. Key C.R. Travel distance to radiation therapy and receipt of radiotherapy following breast-conserving surgery J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 2000 92 269 271 10.1093/jnci/92.3.269 10655446 · DOI
  27. [34]Brown M.L. Lipscomb J. Snyder C. The burden of illness in cancer: Economic cost and quality of life Ann. Rev. Public Health 2001 22 91 113 10.1146/annurev.publhealth.22.1.91 11274513 · DOI

Authors
Garaszczuk, R., Yong, J. H. E., Sun, Z., & de Oliveira, C.
Affiliations
  • Canadian Partnership Against Cancer (CA)
  • The Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, Toronto, ON M5H 1J8, Canada
Corresponding author
Yong, Jean H. E.
Venue
Current Oncology
Publisher
MDPI AG
Published
2022-04-14
Volume
29
Issue
4
Pages
2735-2748
ISSN
  • 1198-0052 (ISSN-L)
  • 1718-7729
OpenAlex
W4223933725
Cited by
56
References
29
Citations by year
2026: 11 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 1
FWCI
9.05
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Current Oncology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York) (acceptedVersion)
  • TSpace (University of Toronto) (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • Partenariat Canadien Contre Le Cancer
  • Health Canada
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Economic and Financial Impacts of Cancer
  • Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Global Cancer Incidence and Screening
Keywords
economic burden of cancer, social costs, out-of-pocket costs, time costs, indirect costs, health system costs, cancer incidence and mortality, Canada
MeSH terms
Financial Stress, Canada, Humans, Neoplasms, Health Care Costs, Cost of Illness

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review