The cost of prostatic cancer in a defined population

Health-service costs for prostatic adenocarcinoma were calculated on the basis of 101 patients resident in the Linköping area throughout their illness and who died in 1984-1985. At the time of diagnosis 54 tumours were advanced and 47 were localized. Primary treatment was expectant or surgical in 77 and oestrogen therapy in 17 cases. The average number of life-years lost was 4.3 in the total series and 10.7 in the men younger than 70. The median cost per case, SEK 50,000 (US dollars 7,900), was significantly lower than the average cost, SEK 79,000 (US dollars 12,400), due to a few high-cost patients. Approximately 50% of the total treatment cost was incurred during the year before death. The total number of hospitalizations for prostatic cancer in Sweden during 1984 was 11,800. The total estimated cost of this disease for the Swedish Health Services in 1985 was around 300 million SEK (47 million US dollars).