Improved trends of lung cancer mortality‐to‐incidence ratios in countries with high healthcare expenditure

• Main Authors: Wen‐Wei Sung, Kwong‐Kwok Au, Han‐Ru Wu, Chia‐Ying Yu, Yao‐Chen Wang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2021-06-01
• Series: Thoracic Cancer
• Subjects: expenditure; incidence; lung cancer; mortality; mortality‐to‐incidence ratio
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1111/1759-7714.13912

Abstract Background Lung cancer stage has a significant impact on prognosis, and early detection of lung cancer relies on screenings. Despite the strong relationship between screening and lung cancer staging, the role of healthcare expenditure in lung cancer outcomes remains unknown. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between economic status and clinical outcomes in lung cancer. Methods Data were obtained from GLOBOCAN and the World Health Organization. Mortality‐to‐incidence ratios (MIRs) and their change over time, calculated as the difference between the MIRs of 2012 and 2018 (δMIR), were used to evaluate their correlation to expenditures on healthcare and human development index (HDI) disparities via Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. Results Regions such as North America have relatively high crude incidence rates but low MIR values. Furthermore, countries with lower crude incidence rates spent less on healthcare. The results show significant negative associations between HDI, current health expenditure (CHE) per capita, CHE as a percentage of gross domestic product (CHE/GDP), and MIR. As for MIR and δMIR, countries with favorable MIRs also showed improving MIRs based on δMIR. Conclusions HDI, CHE per capita, CHE/GDP, and development status play noticeable roles in the prognosis of lung cancer, leading to large disparities in clinical outcomes.