Cost-of-illness of rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis

OBJECTIVES:\ud To assess, quantify and summarise the cost of illness of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) from the societal perspective.\ud \ud METHODS:\ud Original studies reporting costs of RA or AS were searched systematically. Both cost-of-illness studies and economic evaluations of therapies were included. Studies were appraised for patient and study characteristics, type of costs and actual costs. Reported costs were aggregated by cost categories and overall mean costs were summarised by cost domain (healthcare, patient and family, and productivity costs).\ud \ud RESULTS:\ud Overall mean costs of RA (€14,906 per year) were above that of AS (€9,374 per year), while the relative distribution of costs over cost domains was approximately similar. For both diseases, productivity costs based on the human cost approach were 3 to 10 times higher than the friction costs and accounted for more than half the total costs of both diseases.\ud \ud CONCLUSIONS:\ud Productivity costs constitute the largest part of the total cost-off-illness of RA and AS reflecting the high burden of the disease on work participation. Although total and direct costs of illness in RA were higher than in AS, the average age of AS patients was 10 years lower and therefore, lifetime costs associated with AS may actually be equal or higher

Economic evaluation of implementation strategies in health care

Economic evaluations can inform decisions about the efficiency and allocation of resources to implementation strategies? strategies explicitly designed to inform care providers and patients about the best available research evidence and to enhance its use in their practices. These strategies are increasingly popular in health care, especially in light of growing concerns about quality of care and limits on resources. But such concerns have hardly motivated health authorities and other decision-makers to spend on some form of economic evaluation in their assessments of implementation strategies. This editorial addresses the importance of economic evaluation in the context of implementation science? particularly, how these analyses can be most efficiently incorporated into decision-making processes about implementation strategies

Economic value of in vitro fertilization in Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan

__Abstract__ Background: An economic value calculation was performed to estimate the lifetime net present value of in vitro fertilization (IVF) in Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. Methods: Net lifetime tax revenues were used to represent governmental benefits accruing from a hypothetical cohort of an IVF population born in 2009 using the methodology of generational accounting. Governmental expenses related to this population included social benefits, education and health care, unemployment support, and pensions. Where available, country-specific data referencing official sources were applied

Do the Washington Panel recommendations hold for europe inversigating the relation between quality of life versus work-status, absenteeism and presenteeism

__Abstract__ Background: The question of how to value lost productivity in economic evaluations has been subject of debate in the past twenty years. According to the Washington panel, lost productivity influences health-related quality of life and should thus be considered a health effect instead of a cost to avoid double counting. Current empirical evidence on the inclusion of income loss when valuing health states is not decisive. We examined the relationship between three aspects of lost productivity (work-status, absenteeism and presenteeism) and patient or social valuation of health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Methods: Cross-sectional survey data were collected from a total of 830 respondents with a rheumatic disorder from four West-European countries. Health-related quality of life was expressed in either the European societal utility using EQ-5D-3L or the patient valuation using EQ-VAS. The impact of work-status (four categories), absenteeism (absent from paid work during the past three months), and presenteeism (QQ method) on EQ-5D utilities and VAS scores was examined in linear regression analyses taking into account demographic characteristics and disease severity (duration, pain and restriction). Results: The relationship between work-status, absenteeism or presenteeism and HRQoL was stronger for patient valuation than societal valuation. Compared to work-status and presenteeism the relationship between absenteeism and HRQoL was even less explicit. However, results for all measures of lost productivity are only marginally significant and negligible compared to the influence of disease-related restrictions. Conclusions: This survey study in patients with a rheumatic disorder in four European countries, does not fully support the Washington panel’s claim that lost productivity is a significantly related with HRQoL, and this is even more apparent for absenteeism than for work-status and presenteeism. For West-European countries, there is no reason, to include absenteeism in the QALY. Findings need to be confirmed in other disease areas

Challenges in modelling the cost effectiveness of various interventions for cardiovascular disease

Objectives: Decision analytic modelling is essential in performing cost-effectiveness analyses (CEAs) of interventions in cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, modelling inherently poses challenges that need to be dealt with since models always represent a simplification of reality. The aim of this study was to identify and explore the challenges in modelling CVD interventions. Methods: A document analysis was performed of 40 model-based CEAs of CVD interventions published in high-impact journals. We analysed the systematically selected papers to identify challenges per type of intervention (test, non-drug, drug, disease management programme, and public health intervention), and a questionnaire was sent to the corresponding authors to obtain a more thorough overview. Ideas for possible solutions for the challenges were based on the papers, responses, modelling guidelines, and other sources. Results: The systematic literature search identified 1,720 potentially relevant articles. Forty authors were identified after screening the most recent 294 papers. Besides the challenge of lack of data, the challenges encountered in the review suggest that it was difficult to obtain a sufficiently valid and accurate cost-effectiveness estimate, mainly due to lack of data or extrapolating from intermediate outcomes. Despite the low response rate of the questionnaire, it confirmed our results. Conclusions: This combination of a review and a survey showed examples of CVD modelling challenges found in studies published in high-impact journals. Modelling guidelines do not provide sufficient guidance in resolving all challenges. Some of the reported challenges are specific to the type of intervention and disease, while some are independent of intervention and disease

Costs of Treating Lymphoproliferative Disorders in Ukraine: a Pilot Evaluation

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and multiple myeloma (MM) are two of the most widespread lymphoproliferative disorders among the adult population of Ukraine and other Central and Western European countries. Considering that pharmaceutical treatment accounts for the major part of medical expenses in the management of these conditions, the aim of this study was to assess the costs of pharmacotherapy of CLL and MM. The analysis was performed retrospectively using the results of our own pilot study, in which we examined medical histories of the patients treated at a specialized medical center in Kiev. The average annual cost of pharmacotherapy of all Ukrainian patients was 340 750 162 RUB for CLL and 89 184 759 RUB for MM. We found a negative correlation between the patient’s age and the cost of pharmacotherapy

Disutility associated with cancer screening programs : a systematic review

Objectives Disutility allows to identify how much population values intervention-related harms contributing to knowledge on the benefits/harms ratio of cancer screening programs. This systematic review evaluates disutility related to cancer screening applying a utility theory framework. Methods Using a predefined protocol, Embase, Medline Ovid, Web of Science, Cochrane, Google scholar and supplementary sources were systematically searched. The framework grouped disutilities associated with breast, cervical, lung, colorectal, and prostate cancer screening programs into the screening, diagnostic work up, and treatment phases. We assessed the quality of included studies according to the relevance to target population, risk of bias, appropriateness of measure and the time frame. Results Out of 2840 hits, we included 38 studies, of which 27 measured (and others estimated) disutilities. Around 70% of studies had medium to high-level quality. Measured disutilities and Quality Adjusted Life Years loss were 0–0.03 and 0–0.0013 respectively in screening phases. Both disutilities and Quality Adjusted Life Years loss had similar ranges in diagnostic work up (0–0.26), and treatment (0.09–0.27) phases. We found no measured disutilities available for lung cancer screening and—little evidence for disutilities in treatment phase. Almost 40% of the estimated disutility values were above the range of measured ones. Conclusions Cancer screening programs led to low disutities related to screening phase, and low to moderate disutilities related to diagnostic work up and treatment phases. These disutility values varied by the measurement instrument applied, and were higher in studies with lower quality. The estimated disutility values comparing to the measured ones tended to overestimate the harms

REVIEWING TRANSFERABILITY in ECONOMIC EVALUATIONS ORIGINATING from EASTERN EUROPE

__Objectives:__ The aim of this study is to analyze the quality and transferability issues reported in published peer-reviewed English-language economic evaluations based in healthcare settings of the Central and Eastern European (CEE) and former Soviet countries. __Methods:__ A systematic search of economic evaluations of healthcare interventions was performed for Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Estonia, Georgia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Republic of Moldova, Romania, the Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovenia, and Ukraine. The included studies were assessed according to their characteristics, quality (using Drummond’s checklist), use of local data, and the transferability of inputs and results, if addressed. __Results:__ Most of the thirty-four economic evaluations identified were conducted from a healthcare or payer perspective (74 percent), with 47 percent of studies focusing on infectious diseases. The least frequently and transparently addressed parameters were the items’ stated perspectives, relevant costs included, accurately measured costs in appropriate units, outcomes and costs credibly valued, and uncertainties addressed. Local data were often used to assess unit costs, baseline risk, and resource usage, while jurisdiction-specific utilities were included in only one study. Only 32 percent of relevant studies discussed the limitations of using foreign data, and 36 percent of studies discussed the transferability of their own study results to other jurisdictions. __Conclusions:__ Transferability of the results is not sufficiently discussed in published economic evaluations. To simplify the transferability of studies to other jurisdictions, the following should be comprehensively addressed: uncertainty, impact of influential parameters, and data transferability. The transparency of reporting should be improved