ECONOMIC BURDEN OF CANCER IN BRAZIL: EVIDENCE ON COSTS AND CHALLENGES FOR THE UNIFIED HEALTH SYSTEM
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63330/aurumpub.068-038Keywords:
Costs and Cost Analysis, Health Economics, Healthcare Financing, Neoplasms, Unified Health SystemAbstract
Cancer represents one of the main challenges for the Brazilian Unified Health System due to its high epidemiological magnitude and the costs associated with diagnosis, treatment, and patient follow-up. This study aims to synthesize scientific evidence on the economic burden of cancer in Brazil, highlighting the main costs related to cancer care and their impacts on the sustainability of the Unified Health System. This is a bibliographic study developed through a narrative review, with searches conducted in July 2026 in PubMed, SciELO, LILACS, and the Virtual Health Library databases, complemented by official documents. Evidence demonstrates increasing expenditures on cancer care and a significant contribution from outpatient procedures, hospitalizations, surgeries, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and medicines. In addition to healthcare costs, economic losses associated with premature mortality and reduced productivity were identified. Diagnosis at advanced stages constitutes an important factor associated with increased resource utilization. It is concluded that addressing the economic burden of cancer requires coordination between prevention, timely diagnosis, health technology assessment, organization of the healthcare network, and public financing planning.
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