title: Resource use and costs associated with different states of breast cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study investigated the direct medical resource use and cost, informal care cost, and indirect cost associated with breast cancer in different states of the disease in normal clinical practice.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective database analysis was used to estimate direct medical resource use and cost, and a patient questionnaire was used to evaluate informal care and work capacity in different states of breast cancer.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For patients younger than 65 years of age, the first year after a primary diagnosis total cost amounted to 280,000 SEK ($39,000) and the first year after a local or contralateral recurrence total cost was 351,000 SEK ($48,900). The second and following years after primary breast cancer or recurrence had substantially lower total cost, amounting to 94,000 SEK ($13,000). For patients with metastatic disease, the annual total cost was estimated to 334,000 SEK ($46,500). For patients older than 65 years of age, the total cost for the first year after a primary diagnosis amounted to 80,000 SEK ($11,200) and the total cost for the first year after a local or contralateral recurrence was 92,000 SEK ($12,900). The total cost for the second and following years after primary breast cancer or recurrence was estimated to 18,000 SEK ($2,600), and the total annual cost for patients with metastatic was 122,000 SEK ($17,000).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Both direct medical costs and indirect cost vary substantially between disease states. For patients under 65 year of age, indirect costs accounted for more than 50 percent of the total cost.
authors.affiliation: Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. hemli@hhs.se
authors.forename: Mathias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lidgren
authors.forename: Nils
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wilking
authors.forename: Bengt
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jönsson
authors.forename: Clas
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rehnberg
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000145:classification / Q000191:economics*; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D005260:Female; D006295:Health Resources / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden