Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Original Article
  • Published:

Long-term medical-care costs related to prostate cancer: estimates from linked SEER-Medicare data

Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases volume 13, pages 278–284 (2010)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Limited data are available concerning long-term prostate cancer (PCa)-related medical costs for use in assessing PCa prevention strategies. The aim of this study was to examine treatment, long-term survival, and long-term PCa-related costs by cancer stage. Costs in phases of care based on the natural history of PCa were also examined. Our data illustrate that initial care is characteristic of a rapid rate of cost accrual. This rate then decreases during continuing care. For terminal care, only stage IV resumes a rate of cost accrual similar to initial care. With average PCa-related costs of $18 168 observed over an average follow-up of 4 years, prevention strategies may result in a reduction in medical costs.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Cancer facts and figures. 2009; Available from http://www.cancer.org/docroot/STT/STT_0.asp. [accessed 15 October 2009].

  2. Thompson IM, Goodman PJ, Tangen CM, Lucia MS, Miller GJ, Ford LG et al. The influence of finasteride on the development of prostate cancer. N Engl J Med 2003; 349: 215–224.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Andriole G, Bostwick D, Brawley O, Gomella L, Marberger M, Tindall D et al. Chemoprevention of prostate cancer in men at high risk: rationale and design of the reduction by dutasteride of prostate cancer events (REDUCE) trial. J Urol 2004; 172: 1314–1317.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Roehrborn CG, Albertsen P, Stokes ME, Black L, Benedict A . First-year costs of treating prostate cancer: estimates from SEER-Medicare data. Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis 2009; 12: 355–360.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Warren JL, Yabroff KR, Meekins A, Topor M, Lamont EB, Brown ML . Evaluation of trends in the cost of initial cancer treatment. J Natl Cancer Inst 2008; 100: 888–897.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Zeliadt SB, Etzioni R, Ramsey SD, Penson DF, Potosky AL . Trends in treatment costs for localized prostate cancer: the healthy screenee effect. Med Care 2007; 45: 154–159.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Brandeis J, Pashos CL, Henning JM, Litwin MS . A nationwide charge comparison of the principal treatments for early stage prostate cancer. Cancer 2000; 89: 1792–1799.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Penson DF, Schonfeld WH, Flanders SC, Henke CJ, Warolin KL, Carroll PR et al. Relationship of first-year costs of treating localized prostate cancer to initial choice of therapy and stage at diagnosis: results from the CAPSURE database. Urology 2001; 57: 499–503.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Taplin SH, Barlow W, Urban N, Mandelson MT, Timlin DJ, Ichikawa L et al. Stage, age, comorbidity, and direct costs of colon, prostate, and breast cancer care. J Natl Cancer Inst 1995; 87: 417–426.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Fireman BH, Quesenberry CP, Somkin CP, Jacobson AS, Baer D, West D et al. Cost of care for cancer in a health maintenance organization. Health Care Financ Rev 1997; 18: 51–76.

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  11. Warren JL, Klabunde CN, Schrag D, Bach PB, Riley GF . Overview of the SEER-Medicare data: content, research applications, and generalizability to the United States elderly population. Med Care 2002; 40: IV-I3.

    Google Scholar 

  12. National Cancer Institute.. Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results. About SEER. 2005. Available from http://seer.cancer.gov/about. [accessed September 2007].

  13. Brown ML, Riley GF, Potosky AL, Etzioni RD . Obtaining long-term disease specific costs of care: application to Medicare enrollees diagnosed with colorectal cancer. Med Care 1999; 37: 1249–1259.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Efron B, Tibshirani R . An Introduction to the Bootstrap. Chapman & Hall: New York, 1993.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  15. Iezzoni LI . Assessing quality using administrative data. Ann Intern Med 1997; 127: 666.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. American Cancer Society. Overview: prostate cancer. Available from http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_2_1X_How_many_men_get_prostatecancer_336.asp?sitearea=. [accessed January 2010].

Download references

Acknowledgements

This study used the linked SEER-Medicare database. We owe the sole responsibility of interpreting and reporting of these data. We acknowledge the efforts of the Applied Research Program, National Cancer Institute; the Office of Research, Development, and Information, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; Information Management Services and the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program tumor registries in the creation of the SEER-Medicare database. Portions of this research were presented at American Urological Association Annual Meeting, 17–22 May 2008, Orlando, FL. This study was funded by GlaxoSmithKline.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. United BioSource Corporation, Dorval, Quebec, Canada

    M E Stokes

  2. Global Health Outcomes, GSK, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA

    L Black

  3. United BioSource Corporation, Budapest, Hungary

    Á Benedict

  4. Department of Surgery (Urology), UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA

    C G Roehrborn

  5. Department of Surgery (Urology), UConn Health Center, Farmington, CT, USA

    P Albertsen

Authors
  1. M E Stokes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. L Black
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Á Benedict
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. C G Roehrborn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. P Albertsen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to M E Stokes.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

Funding for this study was provided by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to United BioSource Corporation. Dr Peter Albertsen is a paid consultant to GSK and Blue Cross Blue Shield. Dr Albertsen also participates in a research study sponsored by sanofi-aventis. Libby K Black is an employee of GSK. Dr Claus G Roehrborn is currently a paid consultant to GSK and has been an investigator for GSK. Michael E Stokes and Ágnes Benedict are full-time employees of United BioSource Corporation.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Stokes, M., Black, L., Benedict, Á. et al. Long-term medical-care costs related to prostate cancer: estimates from linked SEER-Medicare data. Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis 13, 278–284 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/pcan.2010.5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/pcan.2010.5

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links