A dynamic, modifiable model for estimating cost-effectiveness of smoking cessation interventions in pregnancy : application to an RCT of self-help delivered by text message

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Previous evaluations of smoking cessation interventions in pregnancy have several limitations. Our solution to these limitations is the Economics of Smoking in Pregnancy (ESIP) model which estimates the lifetime cost-effectiveness of smoking cessation interventions in pregnancy from a National Health Service (NHS) and personal social services perspective. We aim to (1) describe how ESIP has been constructed, and (2) illustrate its use with trial data. METHODS: ESIP links mothers' and offspring pregnancy outcomes to estimate the burdens of smoking-related disease they experience with different rates of smoking in pregnancy, both in pregnancy and across their lifetimes. Smoking rates are inputted by model users. ESIP then estimates the costs of treating disease burdens and also mothers' and offspring life years and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). By comparing costs incurred and healthy life following different smoking rates, ESIP estimates incremental cost-effectiveness and benefit-cost ratios for mothers or offspring or both combined. We illustrate ESIP use using data from a pragmatic randomised controlled trial that tested a smoking cessation intervention in pregnancy. RESULTS: Across women's and offspring lifetimes, the intervention proved cheaper than usual care, having a negative incremental cost of £38.37 (interquartile range £21.46-£56.96) and it improved health, demonstrating a 0.04 increase in incremental QALYs for mothers and offspring, implying it is 'dominant' over usual care. Benefit-cost ratios suggested that every £1 spent would generate a median of £14 (interquartile range £8-£20) in healthcare savings. CONCLUSIONS: Economics of Smoking in Pregnancy (ESIP) is the first economic model to link mothers' and infants' costs and benefits whilst reporting cost-effectiveness in readily-comparable units. Using ESIP with data from a trial which reported only short-term economic analysis showed that the intervention was very likely to be cost-effective in the longer-term and to generate healthcare savings

Preventing falls among older people with mental health problems : a systematic review

© 2014 Bunn et al. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited.Falls are a leading cause of mortality and morbidity in older people and the risk of falling is exacerbated by mental health conditions. Existing reviews have focused on people with dementia and cognitive impairment, but not those with other mental health conditions or in mental health settings. The objective of this review is to evaluate the effectiveness of fall prevention interventions for older people with mental health problems being cared for across all settingsPeer reviewedFinal Published versio

Senselessness and sensibility: suicide and university culture

In the wake of yet another young suicide in the Welsh town of Bridgend, and in the context of rising emotional problems among young people in Britain, Meghan Benton reflects on the suicide of her ex-boyfriend at the age of 18, and asks what can be done to better protect at-risk young people, particularly pressurised students. Copyright (c) 2008 The Author. Journal compilation (c) 2008 ippr.

The experiences of older adults with a diagnosed functional mental illness, their carers and healthcare professionals in relation to mental health service delivery: an integrative review.

Aims and objectives: To analyse the experiences of older people with a diagnosed functional mental illness and their carers in relation to mental health service delivery and analyse the experiences of health and social care professionals who care for and treat older people who have a diagnosed functional mental illness. Background: The prevalence of functional mental illness in older adults is notable but to date has received less research attention than dementia. Older adults with functional mental illness have life expectancy of up to 20years less than the rest of the population. Therefore, the experiences of older adults with functional mental illness, their carers and healthcare professionals, in relation to mental health services, need further exploration. Design: Integrative literature review. Methods: A five-stage process was informed by Whittemore and Knafl. MeSH was used. Keyword searches of MEDLINE, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, EMBASE and AMED were conducted between January 2000–October 2017. Titles were screened, and data were extracted manually and analysed using narrative synthesis. The PRISMA checklist was used. Results: A total of 342 articles were deemed potentially relevant to this review. Once inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied, 28 articles were included. The literature presented an overarching theme “determinants influencing older people with functional mental illness use of services.” The overarching theme is supported by two main themes: inevitable consequences of ageing and variations of the availability of healthcare services for older people with functional mental illness. Conclusion: Several determinants influence use of services by older people with functional mental illness. Older people with functional mental illness often perceived they did not have a mental health need. Within the literature, there was little acknowledgement of the experiences of older people with functional mental illness regarding their support needs. Relevance to clinical practice: This integrative review has highlighted that some older people with functional mental illness do not seek mental health support because they believe that functional mental illness is an inevitable consequence of ageing; this is mirrored at times by healthcare professionals and carers. In addition to this finding, different views prevail regarding the impact that ageless and age-defined mental health service delivery models have on the needs of older people with functional mental illness. Further research is required to understand these findings