Reduced healthcare costs for patients with screen-detected colorectal cancer: A Danish nationwide cohort study

Abstract

Objectives

This Danish nationwide retrospective register-based cohort study investigated healthcare costs for patients with screen-detected colorectal cancer (SD-CRC) compared to non-screen-detected CRC (NSD-CRC).

Study design

Nationwide cohort study.

Methods

Quarterly healthcare costs including costs of hospital care, out-of-hospital medication, and primary sector contacts were compared between the two groups from two years before diagnosis of CRC until two years after. A quasi-experimental difference-in-differences analysis was performed to estimate the differences per patient in total quarterly healthcare costs between the groups.

Results

A total of 13,852 patients were included, 4703 with SD-CRC, 7420 with NSD-CRC, and 1,729 with interval- or post-colonoscopy CRC (I-PC-CRC). The total quarterly healthcare costs per patient were significantly higher in the NSD-CRC group than in SD-CRC. This was consistent across the total period and in 6-month analyses, accruing additional €16,600 of costs for patients with NSD-CRC over two years after diagnosis. Total healthcare costs were significantly higher for patients with NSD-CRC as compared to patients with SD-CRC across all Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) stages, except for UICC stage I. Correspondingly, total costs associated with I-PC-CRC were significantly higher than for SD-CRC.

Conclusions

Apart from improving post-treatment outcomes, higher participation rates in the CRC screening programmes present an opportunity for reducing healthcare costs related to patients diagnosed with CRC.