The cost of treating people with blood cancers is much higher than the cost associated with treating many other types of cancers, two new studies have revealed.

According to the findings, the cost of treating one patient with blood cancer is around twice as high than the average cost of treating patients with other types of cancer. This is due to complex diagnosis methods, treatment and long hospital stays.

The two studies, which are published in the medical journal, The Lancet Haematology, focus on blood disorders, which include a range of illnesses, including blood cancers, anaemia, blood cell disorders and disorders of the spleen.

The most common blood disorder is anaemia, which affects the ability of the blood to carry oxygen. Meanwhile, blood cancers, such as Hodgkin's lymphoma and leukaemia, are one of the 10 most common types of cancer, leading to around 100,000 deaths in Europe every year.

The studies looked at the EU's 28 countries in 2012, along with Norway, Switzerland and Iceland. They revealed that blood disorders cost the European economy €23 billion in that year. These costs included healthcare costs, such as the cost of drugs and hospital stays, informal care costs from family and friends and productivity losses from people being unable to work due to illness or dying prematurely.

Around half of these costs are related to blood cancers, while the other half are related to non-malignant (non-cancerous) blood disorders.

Of the €23 billion spent in 2012, €16 billion was spent on healthcare costs, including €7 billion on hospital inpatient care and €4 billion on drugs.

Among the 28 EU countries, blood cancers made up 8% of total cancer costs, making them the fourth most expensive type of cancer after lung (15%), breast (12%) and colorectal (10%) cancer.

When the researchers considered healthcare costs alone, blood cancers were found to be the second most expensive, with breast cancer the most expensive.

Blood cancers cost an average of €14,674 per patient in 2012, almost two times higher than the average cost of treating all cancers, at €7,929.

The UK researchers believe this is most likely to due to the longer length of time spent in hospital - 14 days on average with blood cancer compared to eight days across all cancers - as well as the complexities of the disease. Blood cancer is often treated with complex, long-term treatments and involves extensive diagnostic procedures.

The researchers noted that costs varied between countries and they called for more research into the reasons for this.

"We found wide differences in the cost of treating blood disorders in different countries, likely linked to the significant differences in the access and delivery of care for patients with blood disorders. Our findings suggest there is a need to harmonise care of blood disorders across Europe in a cost-effective way," commented study author, Dr Jose Leal, of the University of Oxford.

Writing in a linked comment in The Lancet Haematology, Prof Ulrich Jäger, of the Medizinische Universität Wien in Austria said ‘there is no doubt that the burden of blood disorders is likely to have risen since 2012 and will probably be on the rise for some time to come'.

"Most European countries face an ever-ageing population needing more care. Another factor will contribute even more to rising costs - the prices of new drugs. Since 2012, several new drugs have received market authorisation. Many of these new drugs promise to be more effective because they target key pathways of cancer cells more specifically. However, many of these new drugs are priced well above the 2012 average," he said.