Economic burden of vulvar, vaginal, anal, penile and head & neck cancers in Bulgaria

Abstract

A retrospective, cost-of-illness study aimed at identifying direct healthcare costs of vulvar, vaginal, anal, penile, and H&N cancers in Bulgaria from the payer perspective and calculating indirect costs and the associated years of life lost was carried out. Costs’ data were obtained from the National Health Insurance Fund from January 2018 to December 2020. Years of life lost were calculated based on the country and gender-specific life expectancy. The human capital approach was used to evaluate the indirect costs. The total treatment costs for 3623 patients were EUR 10,875,771 (2018), EUR 11,922,521 (2019) and EUR 12,329,463 (2020). The costs associated with radiotherapy and drug acquisition and administration accounted for the majority (75–78%) of total healthcare costs. A cumulative loss of approximately 33,299 life years occurred between 2018 and 2020. The costs of productivity losses were estimated at EUR 14,113,265.