Health expenditure and gender-specific cancer incidence and mortality: Are there statistically significant differences between country groups?

Authors

  • Blaž Frešer University of Maribor, Faculty of Economics and Business, Slovenia
  • Silvo Dajčman University of Maribor, Faculty of Economics and Business, Slovenia
  • Jasmina Okičić University of Tuzla, Faculty of Economics, Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Dejan Romih University of Maribor, Faculty of Economics and Business, Slovenia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.71159/icemit2511F

Keywords:

cancer incidence, cancer mortality, health expenditure

Abstract

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death, which emphasises the need for prevention, detection and treatment. This article aims to investigate whether there are statistically significant differences in gender-specific cancer incidence and mortality between countries with low, medium and high health expenditure (as a percentage of GDP). The results for the year 2022 indicate statistically significant differences in cancer incidence and mortality in men between countries with low and medium health expenditure and countries with low and high health expenditure; however, no such differences were found in women.

References

Ades, F., Senterre, C., de Azambuja, E., Sullivan, R., Popescu, R., Parent, F., & Piccart, M. (2013). Discrepancies in cancer incidence and mortality and their relationship to health expenditure in the 27 European Union member states. Annals of Oncology, 24(11), 2897–2902. https://doi.org/10.1093/annonc/mdt352

Amini, M., Sharma, R., & Jani, C. (2023). Gender differences in leukemia outcomes based on health care expenditures using estimates from the GLOBOCAN 2020. Archives of Public Health, 81, Article 151. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-023-01154-8

Aydın, B., & Aydın, E. İ. (2025). Wealth, health expenditure and cancer: An econometric analysis for European countries. Health Economics Review, 15, Article 82. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13561-025-00665-0

Bray, F., Laversanne, M., Sung, H., Ferlay, J., Soerjomataram, I., & Jemal, A. (2024). Global cancer statistics 2022: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, 74(3), 229–263. https://doi.org/10.3322/caac.21834

Chahoud, J., Semaan, A., & Rieber, A. (2016). Wealth, health expenditure, and cancer: A national perspective. Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, 14(8), 972–978. https://doi.org/10.6004/jnccn.2016.0104

Chou, C.-Y., Shen, T.-T., Wang, W.-C., & Wu, M.-P. (2024). Favorable breast cancer mortality-to-incidence ratios of countries with good Human Development Index rankings and high health expenditures. Taiwanese Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 63(4), 527–531. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tjog.2023.11.012

Cook, M. B., Dawsey, S. M., Freedman, N. D., Inskip, P. D., Wichner, S. M., Quraishi, S. M., Devesa, S. S., & McGlynn, K. A. (2009). Sex disparities in cancer incidence by period and age. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, 18(4), 1174–1182. https://doi.org/10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-08-1118

Elmadani, M., Mokaya, P. O., Omer, A. A. A., Kiptulon, E. K., Klara, S., & Orsolya, M. (2025). Cancer burden in Europe: A systematic analysis of the GLOBOCAN database (2022). BMC Cancer, 25, Article 447. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-025-13862-1

Haining, K., Lemmon, E., Hall, P., et al. (2025). Long-term costs associated with healthcare use of people with cancer in Scotland. European Journal of Health Economics. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10198-025-01800-8

Jackson, S. S., Marks, M. A., Katki, H. A., Cook, M. B., Hyun, N., Freedman, N. D., Kahle, L. L., Castle, P. E., Graubard, B. I., & Chaturvedi, A. K. (2022). Sex disparities in the incidence of 21 cancer types: Quantification of the contribution of risk factors. Cancer, 128(19), 3531–3540. https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.34390

Liu, L. (2016). Global sex differences in cancer mortality with age and country-specific characteristics. Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention, 17(7), 3469–3476.

MacLellan, C., Kershaw, P., Kneebone, R. D., McLaren, L., Reiman, T., Urquhart, R., & Dutton, D. J. (2024). Chasing cancer: Does the social-to-medical spending ratio relate to cancer incidence and mortality in Canadian provinces? A retrospective cohort study. BMJ Public Health, 2, e000858. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjph-2023-000858

Martinez, M. E., Schmeler, K. M., Lajous, M., & Newman, L. A. (2024). Cancer screening in low- and middle-income countries. ASCO Educational Book, 44(3), e431272. https://doi.org/10.1200/EDBK_431272

OECD. (2023). Health at a glance 2023: OECD indicators. OECD Publishing. https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/2023/11/health-at-a-glance-2023_e04f8239/full-report/cancer-mortality_80993a01.html

OECD. (2025). Health at a glance 2025: OECD indicators. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/8f9e3f98-en

Our World in Data. (n.d.). Healthcare spending vs. GDP per capita, 2023. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/healthcare-expenditure-vs-gdp

Ramadan, M., AlGhamdi, S., & Alsiary, R. (2025). Analyzing the cancer mortality-to-incidence ratios and health expenditures in the aging population: A 20-year comparative study across high-income countries. Frontiers in Aging, 6, Article 1506897. https://doi.org/10.3389/fragi.2025.1506897

Ritchie, H., & Roser, M. (2019). Age structure. Our World in Data. https://ourworldindata.org/age-structure

Torre, L. A., Siegel, R. L., Ward, E. M., & Jemal, A. (2016). Global cancer incidence and mortality rates and trends—An update. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, 25(1), 16–27. https://doi.org/10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-15-0578

Tosakoon, S., Lawrence, W. R., Shiels, M. S., & Jackson, S. S. (2024). Sex differences in cancer incidence rates by race and ethnicity: Results from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Registry (2000–2019). Cancers, 16(5), 989. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers16050989

Wang, S.-C., Wang, S.-C., Chan, L., Hsieh, T.-Y., Wang, C.-H., Chen, S.-L., & Sung, W.-W. (2020). Limited improvement in prostate cancer mortality-to-incidence ratios in countries with high health care expenditures. Aging, 12(21), 21308–21315. https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.103865

White, M. C., Holman, D. M., Boehm, J. E., Peipins, L. A., Grossman, M., & Henley, S. J. (2014). Age and cancer risk: A potentially modifiable relationship. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 46(3, Suppl. 1), S7–S15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2013.10.029

World Population Review. (2025). Cancer rates by country, 2025. https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/cancer-rates-by-country

Downloads

Published

2025-12-29

How to Cite

Frešer, B., Dajčman, S., Okičić , J., & Romih, D. (2025). Health expenditure and gender-specific cancer incidence and mortality: Are there statistically significant differences between country groups? . International Scientific Conference on Economics, Management and Information Technologies, 2(1), 87–92. https://doi.org/10.71159/icemit2511F