Background: There is extensive focus on the rising costs of healthcare. However, for patients undergoing cancer treatment, there are additional personal costs, which are poorly characterised.
Aim: To qualify indirect costs during anti-cancer therapy in a designated Irish cancer centre.
Methods: An anonymous questionnaire collected demographic data, current work practice, and personal expenditure on regular and non-regular indirect costs during treatment. Differences between groups of interest were compared using the Mann-Whitney U test.
Results: In total, there were 151 responders of median age 58 years; 60 % were female and 74 % were not working. Breast cancer (29 %) was the most frequent diagnosis. Indirect costs totalled a median of €1138 (range €21.60-€7089.84) per patient, with median monthly outgoings of €354. The greatest median monthly costs were hair accessories (€400), transportation (€65), and complementary therapies (€55). The majority (74 %) of patients used a car and median monthly fuel expenditure was €31 (range €1.44-€463.32). Women spent more money during treatment (€1617) than men (€974, p = 0.00128). In addition, median monthly expenditure was greater for those less than 50 years old (€1621 vs €1105; p = 0.04236), those who lived greater than 25 km away (€2015 vs €1078; p = 0.00008) and those without a medical card (€2023 vs €961; p = 0.00024).
Conclusion: This study highlights the need for greater awareness of indirect expenditures associated with systemic anti-cancer therapy in Ireland.
Keywords: Anti-cancer medicines; Health economics; Indirect costs; Personal expenditure; Work practices.