Lung cancer most costly to economy

Cancer care campaign logo in UK A study at Oxford University revealed that the annual cost of all cancer care in the UK economy is £15.8 billion. The cost of lung cancer is at £2.4 billion each year and is the highest for any other kind of cancer, sources said. This highlights the continuing need to tackle smoking, which causes more than eight in 10 lung cancers in the UK.
Sources revealed the total economic costs of other cancers are: bowel cancer at £1.6 billion, breast cancer at £1.5 billion and prostate cancer at £0.8 billion.
The research is presented at the National Cancer Research Institute conference in Liverpool on Friday.
Healthcare spending represents a cost of £90 per person in the UK population, sources said.
Research author Dr Jose Leal from the Health Economics Research Centre at the University of Oxford said: “Our research shows that cancers impact the economy as a whole and not just the health service. Premature deaths, time off work and unpaid care by friends and family account for 64 per cent of all cancer costs in the UK in 2009.”
“Lung cancer costs more than any other cancer, mainly because of potential wage losses due to premature deaths from people in employment – about 60 per cent of the total economic costs. The death rate from the disease remains high at 56 deaths per 100,000 people in the UK population annually, and almost a quarter of these occur before retirement,” he said.