productivity costs: different approaches give different results

PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 655 - 9 Jun 2012

Productivity costs: differentapproaches give different resultsAccording to the authors of a study published in Value

in Health, the magnitude of the differences inproductivity costs calculated using the traditionalhuman capital approach (HCA) and the emergingfriction cost approach (FCA) "illustrates the importanceof examining indirect costs" when considering theimpact of breast and prostate cancer.

They used data from completed surveysfrom 250 women with breast cancer and 108 men withprostate cancer conducted from June–October 2008 inIreland. The study compared the losses in productivitycosts due to prostate and breast cancer using the HCA(societal perspective) and FCA (employer’s perspective)approaches. The productivity costs were broken downinto four subcomponents: temporary disability due toshort-term cancer-related absences from work;permanent disability (PD) due to leaving the workforce;PD due to reduced hours; and premature mortality.

In prostate cancer, the lifetime productivity costs perperson were €109 154 and €8205 using the HCA andFCA approaches, respectively. The corresponding costsin breast cancer patients were €193 425 and €8103.

The authors say that the results illustrate theimportance of "choosing the costing perspectivecarefully, and being explicit about assumptions thatunderpin the methods".Hanly P, et al. Breast and prostate cancer productivity costs: a comparison of thehuman capital approach and the friction cost approach. Value in Health 15: 429-36,No. 3, May 2012. Available from: URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jval.2011.12.012 803071132

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PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 9 Jun 2012 No. 6551173-5503/10/0655-0001/$14.95 Adis © 2010 Springer International Publishing AG. All rights reserved