Indirect costs of cervical and breast cancers in Spain.

This study estimated the indirect costs (productivity loss) caused by mortality and morbidity of cervical and breast cancers in Spain. We used two alternative methods: (a) the traditional human capital (HC) approach and (b) the friction cost (FC) method. The annual costs were Euro 43.4 and 288.7 for cervical and breast cancer, respectively, by the HC approach and Euro 1.1 and 11.6 million by the FC approach. Cost-of-illness studies help to illustrate the real dimension of health problems and should be a major concern for health policies. Indirect costs are relevant information about diseases. However, the estimated indirect costs depend heavily on the approach adopted.