Survivorship burden for individuals, households and society : estimates and methodology

With more and more individuals surviving cancer it is important to estimate the economic burden survivorship places on these individuals, and also on their friends, family, carers and the wider society. This paper provides a review of current estimates of the cost of living with and surviving cancer. Few studies have provided an all-encompassing estimate of the burden. A range of methodologies to estimate the direct health care costs, direct non-health care costs, productivity loss and informal care costs of surviving cancer are described. Additionally an often overlooked burden that on survivors' and caregivers' quality of life is also discussed. This paper hopes to encourage more research on the economic burden of cancer survivorship to aid policy makers in their resource allocation decisions and help establish an ongoing research agenda.