OBJECTIVES: In Austria every year around 30 out of 100,000 people are diagnosed with lung cancer and about 25 out of 100,000 die of it. For men, however, the trend is falling while it is rising among women as a result of changing lifestyles. Bronchial carcinomas are classified by the WHO as follows: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for around 85% of all cases. These include squamous cell carcinoma (40%), adenocarcinoma (35%) and large-cell lung cancer (10%).

METHODS: The analysis consists of two research areas: (1) the creation of a patient-flow to define the population of NSCLC patients in terms of age, histological classification, translocations, mutations and staging based on a systematic literature review. (2) Additionally, based on the patient-flow a cost-of-illness model was developed to calculate the total yearly costs of the NSCLC in Austria. Resource utilization and direct cost data were derived from the Austrian DRG system for inpatient treatments and from outpatient sales data, so that total costs correspond to actual refunds for the year 2016 from the payer’s perspective.

RESULTS: The results determined total direct costs of €199.3 million for 9,863 NSCLC patients. Almost 90% of costs (€178 million) relate to inpatient care. Treatment of the 3,817 patients in Stage I-IIIA costs €64.8 million and the 6,046 patients in stage IIIB-IV required €134.5 million. The average annual costs per patient amount to €20,206; in Stage I-IIIA the average annual cost is €16,977 and in Stage IIIB-IV €22,245; depending on the mutation between €20,441 and €39,551.

CONCLUSIONS: Worldwide the costs of cancer drugs have risen by 34% to €90 billion over the last five years. In Austria the expenditures have developed to a similar extent, most recently reaching €471 million. However, the costs of treating the NSCLC represent only 0.6% of the total health-expenditure.