[Direct medical costs of breast cancer treatment at the Joliot Curie Institute of the Aristide Le Dantec Hospital in Dakar, Senegal].

Introduction: in 2020, the incidence of breast cancer was 2261419 cases worldwide, 1186598 cases in Africa and 817 cases in Senegal. However, direct medical costs of cancer treatment are not known in Senegal. For a better resource allocation, it is important to estimate costs. The purpose of this study is to analyze direct medical costs of breast cancer treatment at the Joliot Curie Institute in Dakar.

Methods: we conducted a retrospective study of patients diagnosed with breast cancer between January and December 2017 at the Joliot Curie Institute. A questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews were conducted among patients and their relatives to reconstruct direct medical costs.

Results: average direct medical costs of breast cancer treatment at the Joliot Curie Institute were $33 713.45 with a minimum of $1 495.15 and a maximum of $10 662.97 over an average period of 31 months. These costs include chemotherapy (29%); diagnosis (15%) and surgery (15%). Costs of radiotherapy and prescription medicines accounted for 13% for each procedure. Medical costs were related to educational level (p=0.05) and stage of disease (p=0.03).

Conclusion: direct medical costs of breast cancer treatment are very high in Senegal. Direct medical costs of maximum treatment is $10 662.97 and of minimum treatment is $495.15, reflecting an average cost of $3 713.45.