October 14, 2013 | In 2009, the most recent year for which all relevant data is available, cancer cost the EU a total of €126 billion (around $170 billion). That’s the headline finding of a study by a team of British researchers, who combined the direct healthcare costs of cancer with lost productivity from patients leaving the workforce and their friends and families acting as unpaid caregivers. The study also broke down costs by type of cancer – with lung cancer exacting the greatest financial toll despite greater healthcare costs for breast cancer – and by country, revealing major discrepancies in the cancer burden borne by different European nations. The researchers hope the comparative data will help ministries of health to better target their cancer care investments. The Lancet Oncology