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Objective: In two previous studies we calculated direct costs for men with prostate cancer who died in 1984-85 and 1992-93, respectively. We have now performed a third cost analysis to enable a longitudinal cost comparison. The aim was to calculate direct costs for the management of prostate cancer, describe the economic consequences of technological changes over time and estimate total direct costs for prostate cancer in Sweden., Material and Methods: A total of 204 men in a defined population with a diagnosis of prostate cancer and who died in 1997-98 were included. Data on utilization of health services were extracted from clinical records from time of diagnosis to death from a university hospital and from one county hospital in the county of Ostergötland., Results: The average direct cost per patient has been nearly stable over time (1984-85: 143 000 SEK; 1992-93: 150 000 SEK; 1997-98: 146 000 SEK). The share of costs for drugs increased from 7% in 1992-93 to 17% in 1997-98. The total direct costs for prostate cancer in Sweden have increased over time (1994-85: 610 MSEK; 1992-93: 860 MSEK; 1997-98: 970 MSEK)., Conclusions: Two-thirds of the total cost is incurred by inpatient care. The share of the total costs for drugs is increasing due to increased use of gonadotrophin-releasing hormone analogues. Small changes in average direct costs per patient despite greater use of technology are explained by the fact that more prostate cancers are detected at the early stages.

Objective: The large increase in the incidence of prostate cancer is largely due to testing of serum levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA). Little is known about how PSA testing is used in clinical practice outside of screening programmes. Essentially, PSA can be used in the health check-ups of men without symptoms as a form of non-systematic screening or in the work-up of symptomatic patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the cause of initiating a work-up leading to a diagnosis of prostate cancer, with emphasis on T1c tumours., Material and Methods: Data on the cause of initiation of work-up leading to a diagnosis of prostate cancer were retrieved from the National Prostate Cancer Registry for 6361 incident cases in tumour category T1c and local stages T2, T3 and T4 registered in Sweden in 2000., Results: For 1496 cases in tumour category T1c (non-palpable tumours detected during work-up of elevated PSA), the cause of PSA testing was health check-ups in 32% of cases, work-up of symptoms suspected to emanate from the prostate in 51% and other causes/not reported in 17%. For all stages combined, the cause of initiation of the diagnostic work-up was health check-ups in 18% of cases, symptoms in 68% and other causes/not reported in 14%., Conclusion: Non-systematic screening using PSA testing has been introduced in Sweden. However, prostate cancer is still most commonly diagnosed during the work-up of symptomatic patients.