Burden of Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma in Spain over a 10-year period: productivity losses due to premature mortality

ABSTRACT

Background: Cancer is annually responsible for millions of deaths in Europe and billions of euros in productivity losses; the estimated mortality rate of lymphoma was of 7.07 per 100,000 individuals in Spain in 2018. This study aimed to evaluate the burden that lymphoma mortality represents for the Spanish society.

Methods: The human capital approach was used to estimate the costs derived from premature mortality due to lymphoma between 2008 and 2017.

Results: The number of deaths attributable to lymphoma increased steadily over the study period; the major number of deaths occurred among males aged 80 to 84 years. During the study period, 97,069 years of productive life were lost, a parameter that decreased noticeably over time due to the reduction in the number of deaths at working age. Productivity losses decreased accordingly. Lymphoma represented the 45.36% of losses due to hematological malignancies, generating €121 million in losses the year 2017. Hodgkin lymphoma was, among hematological malignancies, the malignancy accounting for the highest portion of losses per individual.

Conclusions: Lymphoma represents a significant burden that can be reduced with the implementation of improved diagnosis and treatment methods, which must be taken into account in resource allocation and management policies.

KEYWORDS:

• Hodgkin lymphoma
• non-Hodgkin lymphoma
• years of productive life lost
• disease burden
• Spain

Authors’ contributions

JD contributed to the investigation by interpreting the economic situation of lymphoma in Spain and was a major contribution in the intellectual content revision. AM analyzed and interpreted the statistical data and was a major contributor in writing the manuscript.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Ethics committee approval and consent were not required for this study.

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.

Reviewers Disclosure

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

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are fully available from the Spanish national statistics institute at http://www.ine.es.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.