IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/fhecpo/v19y2016i1p141-156n6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Quantifying Gains in the War on Cancer Due to Improved Treatment and Earlier Detection

Author

Listed:
  • Seabury Seth A.

    (University of Southern California – Department of Emergency Medicine and Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics, 635 Downey Way Verna & Peter Dauterive Hall (VPD), 2nd Floor Los Angeles CA 90089-3333, USA)

  • Goldman Dana P.

    (University of Southern California – Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics, Los Angeles, CA, USA)

  • Gupta Charu N.

    (The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania – Health Care Management Department, PA, USA)

  • Khan Zeba M.

    (Celgene Corporation, Summit, New Jersey, USA)

  • Chandra Amitabh

    (Harvard University – John F. Kennedy School of Government, Boston, MA, USA)

  • Philipson Tomas J.

    (University of Chicago – Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Policy Studies, Chicago, IL, USA)

  • Lakdawalla Darius N.

    (University of Southern California – Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics, Los Angeles, CA, USA)

Abstract

Introduction: There have been significant improvements in both treatment and screening efforts for many types of cancer over the past decade. However, the effect of these advancements on the survival of cancer patients is unknown, and many question the value of both new treatments and screening efforts.Methods: This study uses a retrospective analysis of SEER Registry data to quantify reductions in mortality rates for cancer patients diagnosed between 1997 and 2007. Using variation in trends in mortality rates by stage of diagnosis across cancer types, we use logistic regression to decompose separate survival gains into those attributable to advances in treatment versus advances in detection. We estimate the gains in survival due to gains in both treatment and detection overall and separately for 15 of the most common cancer types.Results: We estimate that 3-year cancer-related mortality of cancer patients fell 16.7% from 1997 to 2007. Overall, advances in treatment reduced mortality rates by approximately 12.2% while advances in early detection reduced mortality rates by 4.5%. The relative importance of treatment and detection varied across cancer types. Improvements in detection were most important for thyroid, prostate and kidney cancer. Improvements in treatment were most important for non-Hodgkins lymphoma, lung cancer and myeloma.Conclusion: Both improved treatment options and better early detection have led to significant survival gains for cancer patients diagnosed from 1997 to 2007, generating considerable social value over this time period.

Suggested Citation

  • Seabury Seth A. & Goldman Dana P. & Gupta Charu N. & Khan Zeba M. & Chandra Amitabh & Philipson Tomas J. & Lakdawalla Darius N., 2016. "Quantifying Gains in the War on Cancer Due to Improved Treatment and Earlier Detection," Forum for Health Economics & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 19(1), pages 141-156, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:fhecpo:v:19:y:2016:i:1:p:141-156:n:6
    DOI: 10.1515/fhep-2015-0028
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/fhep-2015-0028
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/fhep-2015-0028?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David H. Howard & Peter B. Bach & Ernst R. Berndt & Rena M. Conti, 2015. "Pricing in the Market for Anticancer Drugs," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 29(1), pages 139-162, Winter.
    2. David M. Cutler, 2008. "Are We Finally Winning the War on Cancer?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(4), pages 3-26, Fall.
    3. Sun Eric & Jena Anupam B & Lakdawalla Darius & Reyes Carolina & Philipson Tomas J & Goldman Dana, 2010. "The Contributions of Improved Therapy and Earlier Detection to Cancer Survival Gains, 1988-2000," Forum for Health Economics & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 13(2), pages 1-22, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kyle, Margaret & Dubois, Pierre, 2016. "The Effects of Pharmaceutical Innovation on Cancer Mortality," CEPR Discussion Papers 11487, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Dubois, Pierre & Kyle, Margaret, 2016. "The Effects of Pharmaceutical Innovation on Cancer Mortality Rates," TSE Working Papers 16-688, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    3. Marianne P. Bitler & Christopher S. Carpenter & Danea Horn, 2021. "Effects of the Colorectal Cancer Control Program," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(11), pages 2667-2685, November.
    4. David Laibson, 1997. "Golden Eggs and Hyperbolic Discounting," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(2), pages 443-478.
    5. Thomas Barnay & Mohamed Ali Ben Halima & Emmanuel Duguet & Christine Le Clainche & Camille Regaert, 2016. "The effects of breast cancer on individual labour market outcomes: an evaluation from an administrative panel," TEPP Working Paper 2016-05, TEPP.
    6. Thomas Barnay & Emmanuel Duguet & Christine Le Clainche, 2019. "The Effects of Breast Cancer on Individual Labour Market Outcomes: An Evaluation from an Administrative Panel in France," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 136, pages 103-126.
    7. Edouard Debonneuil & Anne Eyraud-Loisel & Frédéric Planchet, 2018. "Can Pension Funds Partially Manage Longevity Risk by Investing in a Longevity Megafund?," Risks, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-27, July.
    8. Howdon, Daniel & Jones, Andrew M., 2015. "A discrete latent factor model for smoking, cancer and mortality," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 18(C), pages 57-73.
    9. Salas-Vega, Sebastian & Shearer, Emily & Mossialos, Elias, 2020. "Relationship between costs and clinical benefits of new cancer medicines in Australia, France, the UK, and the US," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    10. J.-Matthias Schulenburg & Martin Frank, 2015. "Rare is frequent and frequent is costly: rare diseases as a challenge for health care systems," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 16(2), pages 113-118, March.
    11. Sabine Vogler & Valérie Paris & Alessandra Ferrario & Veronika J. Wirtz & Kees Joncheere & Peter Schneider & Hanne Bak Pedersen & Guillaume Dedet & Zaheer-Ud-Din Babar, 2017. "How Can Pricing and Reimbursement Policies Improve Affordable Access to Medicines? Lessons Learned from European Countries," Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 307-321, June.
    12. Robert Rosenman, 2011. "The public finance of healthy behavior," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 147(1), pages 173-188, April.
    13. David H. Howard & Peter B. Bach & Ernst R. Berndt & Rena M. Conti, 2015. "Pricing in the Market for Anticancer Drugs," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 29(1), pages 139-162, Winter.
    14. Cutler, David M. & Lange, Fabian & Meara, Ellen & Richards-Shubik, Seth & Ruhm, Christopher J., 2011. "Rising educational gradients in mortality: The role of behavioral risk factors," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 1174-1187.
    15. David M. Cutler & Fabian Lange & Ellen Meara & Seth Richards & Christopher J. Ruhm, 2010. "Explaining the Rise in Educational Gradients in Mortality," NBER Working Papers 15678, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Thomas C. Buchmueller & Léontine Goldzahl, 2018. "The Effect of Organized Breast Cancer Screening on Mammography Use: Evidence from France," NBER Working Papers 24316, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Lakdawalla, Darius N. & Sun, Eric C. & Jena, Anupam B. & Reyes, Carolina M. & Goldman, Dana P. & Philipson, Tomas J., 2010. "An economic evaluation of the war on cancer," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 333-346, May.
    18. Avdic, Daniel & Lundborg, Petter & Vikström, Johan, 2014. "Learning-by-Doing in a Highly Skilled Profession when Stakes are High: Evidence from Advanced Cancer Surgery," Working Paper Series, Center for Labor Studies 2014:9, Uppsala University, Department of Economics.
    19. Michael Chernew & David M. Cutler & Kaushik Ghosh & Mary Beth Landrum, 2016. "Understanding the Improvement in Disability-Free Life Expectancy in the US Elderly Population," NBER Chapters, in: Insights in the Economics of Aging, pages 161-201, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Chatterjee, Chirantan & Gupta, Samarth, 2024. "Public entry and private prices: New evidence from Indian pharmaceutical markets," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 219(C), pages 473-489.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bpj:fhecpo:v:19:y:2016:i:1:p:141-156:n:6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.