Using The Ispor 2013 European Congress as a Big Data Case Study.

Abstract

The availability of concentrated big data sets can help researchers analyze current trends in an industry and drive future growth. Over 1,600 poster presentations related to pharmacoeconomics and outcomes research were presented at the 2013 ISPOR European meeting. We analyzed the titles of the posters to find trends in research. We analyzed the titles and associated sections of all the poster presentations accepted for the ISPOR 2013 European meeting held in Dublin, Ireland. The distribution by sector (research on Methods, health care use & policy studies, cancer, cardiovascular, etc) was calculated in addition to the type of study (cost, PRO & patient preference, clinical outcomes, etc. ). We also searched the titles of posters for key words to divide studies into the following four categories: cost-effectiveness, budget-impact, burden of illness and literature review. In total, 1,679 poster title were analyzed. For the sector distribution, the top three studies were as follows: research on Methods (238; 14.18%), health care use & policy studies (217; 12.92%) and cancer (210; 12.51%). The most popular types of studies were: cost studies (617; 36.75%), patient reported outcome & patient preference studies (212; 12.63%), and clinical outcomes studies (200; 11.91%). Of all the posters, cost-effectiveness studies made up 12.27%, while budget impact studies, literature reviews and burden of illness studies made up 2.5%, 1.67% and. 6%, respectively. The top three sectors for cost-effectiveness studies were cancer (31; 15.05%), cardiovascular disorders (29; 14.08%), and infections (28; 13.59%). Analyzing trends at conferences may help researchers and key stakeholders understand the current issues in the field. The most common type of study for the 2013 ISPOR European were cost studies. The cost-effectiveness studies were concentrated in cancer, cardiovascular disorders and infections.