Years of Potential Life Lost and Productivity Costs Due to Premature Cancer-Related Mortality in Iran

Background: Cancer is recently one of the major concerns of the public health both in the world and Iran.To inform priorities for cancer control, this study estimated years of potential life lost (YPLL) and productivitylosses due to cancer-related premature mortality in Iran in 2012. Materials and
Methods: The number of cancerdeaths by sex for all cancers and the ten leading causes of cancer deaths in Iran in 2012 were obtained from theGLOBOCAN database. The life expectancy method and the human capital approach were used to estimate theYPLL and the value of productivity lost due to cancer-related premature mortality.
Results: There were 53,350cancer-related deaths in Iran. We estimated that these cancer deaths resulted in 1,112,680 YPLL in total, 563,332(50.6%) in males and 549,348 (49.4%) in females. The top 10 ranked cancers accounted for 75% of total deathand 70% of total YPLL in the males and 69% for both death and YPLL in the females. The largest contributorsfor YPLL in the two genders were stomach and breast cancers, respectively. The total cost of lost productivitydue to cancer-related premature mortality discounted at 3% rate in Iran, was US$ 1.93 billion. The most costlycancer for the males was stomach, while for the females it was breast cancer. The percentage of the total coststhat were attributable to the top 10 cancers was 67% in the males and 71% in the females.
Conclusions: TheYPLL and productivity losses due to cancer-related premature mortality are substantial in Iran. Setting resourceallocation priorities to cancers that occur in younger working-age individuals (such as brain and central nervoussystem) and/or cancers with high incidence and mortality rates (such as stomach and breast) could potentiallydecrease the productivity losses and the YPLL to a great extent in Iran.