https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2241-4402
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ABSTRACT
Background
Cervical cancer is one of the most common cancers in women, the cause of which is mostly human papilloma virus (HPV). The aim of this study was to determine the economic burden of cervical cancer and premalignant lesions associated with HPV infection from a societal perspective.
Methods
The study is a partial economic evaluation (cost of illness), which was conducted cross-sectionally in the referral university clinic in Fars province in 2021. The prevalence-based and bottom-up approaches used to calculate the costs, the indirect costs were calculated by human capital approach.
Results
The mean cost of premalignant lesions associated with HPV infection was USD 2,853 per patient, which 68.57% was direct medical costs. In addition, the mean cost of cervical cancer was USD 39,327 per patient, the largest share of which (57.9%) was related to indirect costs. The mean annual cost of cervical cancer patients in the country was estimated at USD 40,884,609 as well.
Conclusion
Cervical cancer and premalignant lesions associated with HPV infection imposed a significant economic burden on the health system and patients. The results of the present study can help health policymakers with efficient and equitable prioritization and allocation of resources.
Acknowledgments
This study was extracted from a master’s thesis approved by the Ethics Committee (IR.SUMS.NUMIMG.REC.1400.026) and sponsored by Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (23758). The authors appreciate all the patients and their companions who patiently contributed to this study despite the suffering caused by the disease.
Declaration of interest
The authors have no 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. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.
Reviewer disclosures
Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.
Author contributions
F Lotfi, A Jafari, Z Shiravani and Kh Keshavarz were involved in the design of the study. F Khodabandeh, M Rezaee and H Rahimi were collected the data and performed the economic analysis. F Lotfi, A Jafari, Z Shiravani and Kh Keshavarz drafted and critically revised the manuscript. All authors contributed to the article and approved the final version to be published.
Ethics approval and consent to participate
This study was conducted in accordance with International Declaration of Helsinki. The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences under the code IR.SUMS.NUMIMG.REC.1400.026. All subjects gave written informed consent to participate.
Consent for publication
All participants completed a consent form, stating that they were well-informed about the Content of questionnaires and that they agreed upon the publication of anonymized data.
Availability of data and material
The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are not publicly available because they contain information that could compromise the privacy of research participants, but are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.