Journal Article

Direct medical costs of young-onset colorectal cancer: a worldwide systematic review

Garg, Ria, Verma, Vanay, Peacock, Stuart, Ellis, Ursula, Cheng, Vicki, McTaggart-Cowan, Helen, De Vera, Mary A., Loree, Jonathan M., Sadatsafavi, Mohsen

2022

Overview

Background Given the rising incidence of young-onset colorectal cancer (yCRC) among individuals younger than 50 years old, understanding the economic burden of yCRC is required to inform the delivery of healthcare services. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review of studies assessing the direct medical costs of yCRC, and where relevant average-age onset CRC (aCRC). Methods We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Web of Science from inception to May 2022 for original, peer-reviewed studies, that reported direct medical costs (e.g., chemotherapy, radiotherapy, outpatient visits, inpatient care, prescription medications) for yCRC and aCRC. We used a modified version of the Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards checklist to appraise the studies. Costs were inflation-adjusted to 2020 US dollars. Results We included 14 studies from 10 countries, including the USA, England, France, Korea, Vietnam, China, Italy, Australia, Canada and Japan. Five studies focused on prevalent disease and reported annualized per-capita cost of prevalent yCRC, ranging from $2,263 to $16,801 and $1,412 to $14,997 among yCRC and aCRC cases, respectively. Nine studies estimated the cost of incident disease. Synthesis of per-capita costs incurred 12 months following colorectal cancer diagnosis ranged from $23,368 to $89,945 for yCRC and $19,929 to $67,195 for aCRC. Five studies used multivariable approaches to compare costs associated with yCRC and aCRC, four showed no differences and one suggested greater costs with yCRC. Conclusion Our synthesis of direct medical costs of yCRC across multiple jurisdictions provide relevant information for healthcare decisions, including on-going considerations for expanding CRC screening strategies to younger adults.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Age / Analysis / Cancer therapies / Care and treatment / Chemotherapy / Citation indexes / Colorectal cancer / Cost estimates / Costs / Demographic aspects / Health Administration / Health care expenditures / Health Informatics / Health insurance / Health services / Hospitals / Medical care, Cost of / Medical records / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Nursing Research / Patients / Prescription drugs / Public Health / Radiation therapy / Subject heading schemes / Systematic review / Young-onset colorectal cancer