Annual cost of illness of stomach and esophageal cancer patientsin urban and rural areas in China： A multi-center study

Objective： Stomach and esophageal cancer are imposing huge threats to the health of Chinese people whereasthere were few studies on the financial burden of the two cancers.Methods： Costs per hospitalization of all patients with stomach or esophageal cancer discharged betweenSeptember 2015 and August 2016 in seven cities/counties in China were collected, together with their demographicinformation and clinical details. Former patients in the same hospitals were sampled to collect information onannual direct non-medical cost, indirect costs and annual number of hospitalization. Annual direct medical cost wasobtained by multiplying cost per hospitalization by annual number of hospitalization. Annual cost of illness （ACI）was obtained by adding the average value of annual direct medical cost, direct non-medical cost and indirect cost,stratified by sex, age, clinical stage, therapy and pathologic type in urban and rural areas. Costs per hospitalizationwere itemized into eight parts to calculate the proportion of each part. All costs were converted to 2016 US dollars（1 USD：6.6423 RMB）.Results： Totally 19,986 cases were included, predominately male. Mean ages of stomach cancer and urbanpatients were lower than that of esophageal cancer and rural patients. ACI of stomach and esophageal cancerpatients were $10,449 and $13,029 in urban areas, and $2,927 and $3,504 in rural areas, respectively. Greater ACIwas associated with male, non-elderly patients as well as those who were in stage I and underwent surgeries.Western medicine fee took the largest proportion of cost per hospitalization.Conclusions： The ACI of stomach and esophageal cancer was tremendous and varied substantially among thepopulation in China. Preferential policies of medical insurance should be designed to tackle with this burden andfurther reduce the health care inequalities.

Medical expenditures for colorectal cancer diagnosis and treatment: A 10-year high-level-hospital-based multicenter retrospective survey in China, 2002-2011

Objective: Colorectal cancer(CRC) causes a substantial burden of disease in China and the evidence of economic burden triggered is fundamental for priority setting. The aim of this survey was to quantify medical expenditures and the time trends for CRC diagnosis and treatment in China.Methods: From 2012 to 2014, a hospital-based multicenter retrospective survey was conducted in 13 provinces across China. For each eligible CRC patient diagnosed from 2002 to 2011, clinical information and expenditure data were extracted using a uniform questionnaire. All expenditure data were reported in Chinese Yuan(CNY)using 2011 values.Results: Of the 14,536 CRC patients included, the average age at diagnosis was 58.2 years and 15.8% were stageI cases. The average medical expenditure per patient was estimated at 37,902 CNY [95 % confidence interval(95%CI): 37,282-38,522], and the annual average increase rate was 9.2% from 2002 to 2011(P for trend <0.001), with a cumulative increase of 2.4 times(from 23,275 CNY to 56,010 CNY). The expenditure per patient in stages Ⅰ, Ⅱ, Ⅲ and Ⅳ were 31,698 CNY, 37,067 CNY, 38,918 CNY and 42,614 CNY, respectively(P<0.001). Expenditure significantly differed within various subgroups. Expenses for drugs contributed the largest proportion(52.6%).Conclusions: These conservative estimates illustrated that medical expenditures for CRC diagnosis and treatment in tertiary hospitals in China were substantial and increased rapidly over the 10 years, with drugs continually being the main expense by 2011. Relatively, medical expenditures are lower for CRC in the earlier stages. These findings will facilitate the economic evaluation of CRC prevention and control in China.

Results of the cancer screening feasibility study in China:a multicentered randomized controlled trial of lung and colorectal cancer screening

Background:To provide an understanding of important aspects of the participant recruitment and data collec-tion,become aware of any potential problems,and obtain necessary information in order to design a large-scale randomized controlled trial(RCT)for lung cancer and colorectal cancer(CRC)screening in China.Methods:This feasibility study was a multicentered,open-label,pilot randomized trial.A total of 2696 participants who were at high risk of lung cancer were recruited from three screening centers and randomly allocated to arm 1(n=894),annual low-dose computed tomography(LDCT)plus a baseline colonoscopy;arm 2(n=902),biennial LDCT plus annual fecal immunochemical test(FIT)with OC-Sensor(OC-FIT);and arm 3(n=900),annual Insure-FIT plus Septin 9 blood test.Information on randomization,compliance,positivity rate,cancer case detection,and contamination with screening for lung cancer and CRC were collected.Results:Participant characteristics were similar across study arms.The compliance rate of annual LDCT screening in arm 1 was 86.4%(95%CI:83.9%,88.5%)at baseline(T0),and 69.0%(95%CI:65.8%,72.0%)and 70.7%(95%CI:67.6%,73.7%)at the following two rounds(T1 and T2).The compliance rates of biennial LDCT screening in arm 2 were similar to those in arm 1 in the corresponding rounds.The compliance rate was 55.5%(95%CI:52.2%,58.8%)for colonoscopy in arm 1,while the compliance rates of OC-FIT,Insure-FIT,and the Septin 9 test in arms 2 and 3 were all approximately 90%at T0,decreasing to 65%-80%at T1 and T2.The positivity rate,cancer case detection rate,and contamination rate of screening for lung cancer and CRC were also reported.Conclusion:In this pilot study,the feasibility of an RCT in China of lung cancer and CRC screening was demon-strated.