Introduction: The rising cost of cancer diagnosis and treatment has imposed a huge financial burden on the affected households. Understanding the nature of this burden will help us to formulate plans to avoid financial distress among the same. Objective: The study aims to estimate the Out of Pocket Expenditure (OOPE) for the management of selected solid cancers among the Out-Patient Department (OPD) of Regional Cancer Centre in South India and to determine the proportion of families experiencing Catastrophic Health Expenditure (CHE) due to the same. Methods: A hospital based cross sectional analytical study was undertaken in the authors’ institute in South India. 474 solid cancer patients were interviewed in OPD of Radiation Oncology by a trained data collector. Sociodemographic variables, costs incurred under various headings and expenditure details of participants were obtained. Direct Medical and Direct Non-Medical costs were calculated, and its total was used as the OOPE. Costs were presented as mean with its standard error. Incidence of CHE was calculated using the 40% threshold on the Capacity to pay and was expressed as proportions with 95% confidence interval. Appropriate statistical tests were used to look for statistically significant differences in the study groups. Results: The average OOP expenditure incurred by a cancer patient was INR 35,817 (USD 523.6) for male and INR 20,496 (USD 299.6) for female. Males had a significantly higher OOPE than females. The prevalence of catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) was 61.6% at the 40% CTP threshold. Patients who used insurance schemes had higher prevalence of CHE than those who did not use insurance schemes (65.5% vs 60.7%, p value 0.351). Conclusion: Cancer care provided through public institutions had a low direct medical cost, but the indirect cost seemed to be extremely high. Public based financial assistance is the need of the hour to help the cancer affected families.
Maurya, P., Murali, S., Jayaseelan, V., Thulasingam, M., & Pandjatcharam, J. (2021). Economic Burden of Cancer Treatment in a Region in South India: A Cross Sectional Analytical Study. Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention, 22(12), 3755-3762. doi: 10.31557/APJCP.2021.22.12.3755
MLA
Pradeep Kumar Maurya; Sharan Murali; Venkatachalam Jayaseelan; Mahalakshmy Thulasingam; Jagadesan Pandjatcharam. "Economic Burden of Cancer Treatment in a Region in South India: A Cross Sectional Analytical Study". Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention, 22, 12, 2021, 3755-3762. doi: 10.31557/APJCP.2021.22.12.3755
HARVARD
Maurya, P., Murali, S., Jayaseelan, V., Thulasingam, M., Pandjatcharam, J. (2021). 'Economic Burden of Cancer Treatment in a Region in South India: A Cross Sectional Analytical Study', Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention, 22(12), pp. 3755-3762. doi: 10.31557/APJCP.2021.22.12.3755
VANCOUVER
Maurya, P., Murali, S., Jayaseelan, V., Thulasingam, M., Pandjatcharam, J. Economic Burden of Cancer Treatment in a Region in South India: A Cross Sectional Analytical Study. Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention, 2021; 22(12): 3755-3762. doi: 10.31557/APJCP.2021.22.12.3755
)