Annual productivity costs due to cervical cancer mortality in the United States

Background

Several studies have estimated annual US health care costs associated with cervical cancer; however, few data are available on the corresponding annual loss in women’s productive earnings resulting from premature mortality owing to cervical cancer. The present study estimates annual productivity costs associated with cervical cancer mortality in the United States.

Methods

An analytic framework was developed for estimating the lost earnings that would have accrued during 2000 for women dying from cervical cancer during that and earlier years, who would have otherwise been alive and working in 2000. The following data from publicly available sources were gathered and analyzed for US women on an age-specific basis: 1) annual number of cervical cancer deaths during 2000 and preceding years; 2) estimated probability of otherwise being alive during 2000, for women dying from cervical cancer during the period 1935–2000; 3) labor force participation rates in 2000; and 4) mean annual earnings in 2000.

Results

Overall, it was estimated that there were 130,377 women who would have been alive during 2000 had they not died from cervical cancer during that or a previous year. Over 75% of these women died before age 60, with >25% dying prior to age 40, and it was estimated that 37,594 (29%) of these women would have had labor force earnings during 2000. The total productivity loss in 2000 owing to cervical cancer mortality was estimated at $1.3 billion.

Conclusions

The annual productivity loss for cervical cancer estimated in the present analysis is several times higher than recent estimates of the annual US direct medical costs associated with cervical cancer ($300–$400 million).