RESUMO
INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to measure the cost of treatment of colorectal cancer in the Basque public health system according to the clinical stage. METHODS: We retrospectively collected demographic data, clinical data and resource use of a sample of 529 patients. For stagesi toiii the initial and follow-up costs were measured. The calculation of cost for stageiv combined generalized linear models to relate the cost to the duration of follow-up based on parametric survival analysis. Unit costs were obtained from the analytical accounting system of the Basque Health Service. RESULTS: The sample included 110 patients with stagei, 171 with stageii, 158 with stageiii and 90 with stageiv colorectal cancer. The initial total cost per patient was 8,644 for stagei, 12,675 for stageii and 13,034 for stageiii. The main component was hospitalization cost. Calculated by extrapolation for stageiv mean survival was 1.27years. Its average annual cost was 22,403, and 24,509 to death. The total annual cost for colorectal cancer extrapolated to the whole Spanish health system was 623.9million. CONCLUSIONS: The economic burden of colorectal cancer is important and should be taken into account in decision-making. The combination of generalized linear models and survival analysis allows estimation of the cost of metastatic stage.