Limitations
There are some limitations to our study. First, the medical expenses
calculated in our study only indicate those covered by health insurance.
We were unable to obtain non-covered medical expenses; however, most
costs related to childhood cancers are covered by national health
insurance. Secondly, we did not include the medical expenses associated
with subsequent non-cancer-related doctor visits and treatments.
However, as cancer treatments comprise very intensive care, we expect
that other treatment costs would not substantially alter our results.
Thirdly, we only considered whether the patients received treatments
such as surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, but not the frequency at
which they received them. Therefore, further studies are necessary to
overcome these limitations.