title: Cost-effectiveness of breast cancer screening in Spain.
abstract: In the last several years, the development of an effective breast cancer screening procedure has increased the possibility of the early detection of this cancer. We investigated the cost-effectiveness of a breast cancer screening program to screen 100,000 women 50-64 years of age in Catalonia (Spain). The cost-effectiveness ratio was measured in terms of the cost per cancer detected comparing program costs to the estimated number of cancers detected. We assumed a participation rate, sensitivity, and specificity of 70%, 92%, and 94%, respectively, and that 0.36 breast cancers could be detected per 100 women screened. We estimated a total cost of $2.1 million with $1.4 million for the mammographic stage and $0.7 million for the detection of the true positive mammographic results. The cost per woman screened was $30. We estimated that 252 cases of breast cancer could be detected with the program. The cost-effectiveness ratio obtained in this study was $8,424 per cancer detected. Sensitivity analysis has shown that cost-effectiveness results are sensitive to the variations in the following variables: specificity, cancer detection rate, and screening costs. In planning preventive programs, breast cancer screening should be considered one of the priorities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health, Catalunya.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Plans
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Casademont
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Salleras
mesh_terms: D001706:Biopsy / Q000191:economics; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008017:Life Expectancy; D008327:Mammography / Q000191:economics; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000191:economics*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013030:Spain