Health care costs for treatment of disseminated breast cancer

The rapid development of the care makes it important to have relevant cost information for cost-effectiveness assessments. The aim of this study is to estimate the health care cost of a disseminated breast cancer relapse in Sweden. A retrospective cohort study of women with disseminated breast cancer in Sweden was done. The individual case records were reviewed and all data concerning treatments, hospitalisation, examinations and palliative care were collected. The study included 53 patients with a total mean cost of euro93,700 (95% Confidence Interval (CI): euro78,500-euro109,600). Drugs and hospitalisations were the largest single cost sources. HER2-positive patients had slightly higher mean costs (euro123,300), while triple negative patients had slightly lower mean costs (euro70,600). The current costs for patients with disseminated breast cancer are considerably higher than those previously shown, which may have important consequences for economic evaluations of interventions aimed at reducing the risk of disseminated breast cancer.