‘Preventable’ cancers cause economic burden of 1 trillion yen | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis
The Asahi Shimbun
Cancer causes an annual economic burden of 2.8597 trillion yen ($19.4 billion) on Japanese society, with “ preventable” varieties of the disease accounting for 1.0240 trillion yen, or 35 percent, of the total, researchers said.
The scholars from the National Cancer Center Japan and other institutions said their study, as of 2015, shows that cancer-prevention measures “will not only be life-saving but may also be cost-saving in the long run.”
Cancer has been the leading cause of death among Japanese since 1981. Every year, 1 million people are diagnosed with cancer, and 380,000 people die from it.
The researchers analyzed data on about 4 million cancer-treatment patients in 2015 to estimate medical costs and productivity loss due to absence from work and deaths.
