Direct medical costs of breast cancer in Jordan: cost drivers and predictors

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Breast cancer is the most common cancer amongst females in Jordan. The study aimed to estimate the total direct medical cost of breast cancer from a healthcare provider’s perspective.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was done to include all Jordanian females who were diagnosed with breast cancer at two leading public providers of cancer care in Jordan, Bashir Hospital and the University of Jordan Hospital. Data were extracted from the Jordan Cancer Registry (JCR) from 2011 to 2014 including demographic, clinical, and economic data of the patient.

Results: A total of 877 and 665 patients were included in the first and second year after diagnosis, respectively. Costs increased in the advanced stages; costs for stages 0, I, II, III, and IV were Jordanian dinars)JD(6,749.94 ($9,517.42), JD 5,960.46 ($8,404.25), JD 8,003.58 ($11,285.05), JD 9,390.59 ($13,240.73), and JD 9,587.44 ($13,518.29), respectively. Treatment costs were the main cost driver across all stages.

Conclusions: This analysis offers insight into costs, cost drivers, and resources utilization incurred by breast cancer patients in Jordan. Two major hospitals in Jordan can play a key informative role in future cost-effectiveness of breast cancer screening and therapeutic treatments in the different stages of cancer.

KEYWORDS:

• Costing analysis
• breast cancer
• health care utilization
• jordan

Author contributions

R.M. conceptualized the study idea, collected and analyzed data, and drafted the manuscript. E.H. and J.M. assisted in data collection and manuscript revision.

Compliance with Ethical Standards

All procedures performed in the studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the MOH research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. No information was collected directly from patients and thus consent forms were not collected on the patient level.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Data availability

The datasets analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Reviewers disclosure

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial relationships or otherwise to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Deanship of Scientific Research at the University of Jordan (grant no. 2018-2017/107,2018). The funding body did not play any role in the design of the study, analysis, and interpretation of data since it was an unrestricted funding.