Willingness to pay for a quality-adjusted life year in Iran: a systematic review.

Cost-effectiveness analysis in cardiac surgery: A review of its concepts and methodologies

AimsA Markov model was adapted to assess the real-world cost-effectiveness of rivaroxaban, dabigatran and apixaban. Each of these non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants was compared with vitamin K antagonist for stroke prevention in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation in Spain.MethodsAll inputs were derived from real-world studies: baseline patient characteristics, clinical event rates, as well as persistence rates for the vitamin K antagonist treatment option. A meta-analysis of real-world studies provided treatment effect and persistence data for rivaroxaban, dabigatran and apixaban, each compared with vitamin K antagonist therapy. The model considered 3-month cycles over a lifetime horizon. The model outcomes included different costs, quality-adjusted life years and life-years gained. Sensitivity analyses were performed to test the robustness of the model.ResultsWhen compared with vitamin K antagonist, rivaroxaban incurred incremental costs of €77 and resulted in incremental quality-adjusted life years of 0.08. The incremental cost per quality-adjusted life year was €952. For the same comparison, the incremental cost per quality-adjusted life year for dabigatran was €4,612. Finally, compared with vitamin K antagonist, the incremental cost per quality-adjusted life year for apixaban was €32,015. The sensitivity analyses confirmed the robustness of the base case results. The probabilities to be cost-effective versus vitamin K antagonist were 94%, 86% and 35%, respectively, for rivaroxaban, dabigatran and apixaban, considering a willingness-to-pay threshold of €22,000 per quality-adjusted life year gained, based on a cost-effectiveness study of the Spanish National Health System.ConclusionThese results suggest that rivaroxaban and dabigatran are cost-effective versus vitamin K antagonist for stroke prevention in non-valvular atrial fibrillation, from the Spanish National Health System perspective.

Cost Analysis of Trans-oral Robotic Surgery Versus Radiation (+/-Chemotherapy) for Locally Advanced Tonsillar Cancer

Rotavirus is a major cause of gastroenteritis in children throughout Europe and the world. In addition to causing morbidity and mortality in children, rotavirus gastroenteritis (RVGE) creates a major economic burden on health care systems and families in Europe. The costs of hospital admissions for RVGE and nosocomial infections generate significant medical treatment costs throughout the region. Less information is available on the costs associated with less severe episodes and the costs borne by families, including lost time from work. The availability of rotavirus vaccines presents an effective opportunity to prevent RVGE and these associated economic costs, as well as providing protection to each child and hence benefiting the child's family. The adoption of rotavirus vaccine by health authorities in Europe will require a comparison of the costs and benefits. Economic evaluations that compare the costs of vaccination to the economic benefits of rotavirus vaccination will provide an estimate of its financial impact on health care systems and society. However, to provide a complete picture, economic evaluations of rotavirus vaccines will need to account for both the reduced costs and the reduced morbidity from prevented RVGE. Cost-effectiveness analyses based on quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) provide a systematic approach for assessing vaccination as a health investment, comparing the incremental costs associated with rotavirus vaccination and the reduced morbidity and mortality. QALYs provide a standardized approach for quantifying and comparing reductions in health-related quality of life and premature mortality. Although methodologic limitations exist in applying the QALY approach to childhood vaccines, their use in cost effectiveness analyses allows decision makers to consider the full health benefits of rotavirus and other vaccines.

PCN76 COST-EFFECTIVENESS OF VENETOCLAX AND RITUXIMAB COMBINATION THERAPY VERSUS IBRUTINIB IN RELAPSED/REFRACTORY CHRONIC LYMPHOCYTIC LEUKEMIA (R/R CLL) IN COLOMBIA

This chapter proposes a practical measure of individual well-being to facilitate the economic evaluation of public policies. The authors propose to evaluate policies in terms of years of good life gained, in a practical and flexible way that complements and builds upon the standard outcome measures used in cost-effectiveness and cost–benefit analysis. The authors show how to do this by adjusting years of life lived for consumption-related quality of life—that is, the material standard of living—as well as health-related quality of life. This is a straightforward extension of the quality-adjusted life year metric used in health economics for measuring years of healthy life. The authors’ approach allows for differences between people in the marginal value of money. It also permits distributional impact analysis in terms of lifetime well-being—that is, how many good years of life different people can expect over the course of their lives. The authors aim to show how years of good life could be measured in practice by harnessing readily available data on three important elements of individual well-being: consumption, health-related quality of life, and mortality. They also aim to identify the main ethical assumptions needed to use this measure.

<strong>Background.</strong> For prevention of thromboembolic events in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) the following types of antithrombotic therapy are used: anticoagulant therapy with vitamin K antagonists (such as warfarin), antiplatelet therapy (such as acetylsalicylic acid) and novel oral anticoagulants such as apixaban, rivaroxaban and dabigatran. Administration of vitamin K antagonists (VKA) is complicated by the need for individual dose adjustment and frequent monitoring of international normalized ratio (INR). Both warfarin and acetylsalicylic acid are widely used for thrombosis prevention in patients with NVAF in the Russian Federation. <strong>Aim.</strong> To evaluate the cost-effectiveness ratio of apixaban compared with warfarin and acetylsalicylic acid in patients with NVAF from the Russian Federation national health care system perspective. <strong>Material and methods.</strong> This analysis used a Markov model that allowed estimation of the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) for apixaban as compared with warfarin and acetylsalicylic acid over lifetime horizon in VKA suitable and VKA unsuitable patients with NVAF respectively. The model enclosed cardiovascular event rates based on the results of the randomized clinical trials comparing clinical effectiveness and safety of apixaban with warfarin (ARISTOTLE) and acetylsalicylic acid (AVERROES). The following cardiovascular events were taken into consideration: ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, systemic embolism, intracranial hemorrhage, other major bleeds, clinically relevant non-major bleeds and myocardial infarction. Direct medical costs were determined based on the rates of the compulsory national medical insurance system. The price of the antithrombotic drugs was taken as a weighted average tender price for the year 2013. In the model both costs and benefits (quality-adjusted life years and life-years) were discounted at 3.5%. Cost-effectiveness threshold was set at 1.4 million rubles per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained and corresponded to the three times GDP per capita in 2013 in the Russian Federation. Sensitivity analysis explored the impact of the treatment discontinuation rates, patients’ age and quality of INR monitoring on the cost-effectiveness of apixaban. <strong>Results.</strong> In the base case analysis it was demonstrated that apixaban as compared with warfarin and acetylsalicylic acid provided additional 0.187 and 0.255 life years as well as additional 0.187 and 0.214 QALYs respectively. Over lifetime horizon apixaban as compared with warfarin and aspirin required additional treatment costs equal to 112.72 and 101.35 thousands rubles, respectively. With that estimated incremental cost-effectiveness ratio for apixaban as compared with warfarin and acetylsalicylic acid was 603.92 and 473.02 thousands rubles per QALY respectively. The results were robust in sensitivity analysis. <strong>Conclusions.</strong> Apixaban is expected to be a cost-effective alternative to warfarin and acetylsalicylic acid in patients with NVAF from the Russian Federation national health care system perspective. Apixaban may be recommended for inclusion into formulary reimbursement lists as an alternative to warfarin.

Papillary thyroid microcarcinomas carry an excellent prognosis, making patient preferences and cost-effectiveness important determinants of treatment selection. To conduct cost-effectiveness analyses, quality-adjusted life year weights for papillary thyroid microcarcinoma treatments must be derived. Our objective was to estimate the quality-adjusted life year weights of common papillary thyroid microcarcinoma treatment scenarios. This study used 10 previously published papillary thyroid microcarcinoma clinical vignettes describing active surveillance, radiofrequency ablation, partial thyroidectomy, and total thyroidectomy, along with potential complications (progression, vocal cord palsy, hypocalcemia). Quality-adjusted life year weights were derived using a time trade-off instrument administered to thyroid cancer survivors. Quality-adjusted life year weights were compared using within-subjects repeated measures analysis of variance and paired Wilcoxon rank-sum tests. The cohort was powered to detect a minimal important difference with an effect size of 0.5 (ie, 0.04 quality-adjusted life year). Data from 101 thyroid cancer survivors were collected. Median quality-adjusted life year weights for uncomplicated treatment scenarios ranged from 0.975 to 0.992 and were not significantly different between treatments (P = .15). Treatment complications resulted in significantly lower quality-adjusted life year weights across all treatment strategies (P < .01) except active surveillance (P = .72). Quality-adjusted life year weights were comparable between the uncomplicated versions all 4 treatment pathways, suggesting that patient treatment preferences for papillary thyroid microcarcinoma are driven by aversion to treatment complications, rather than an inclination toward the experience of the treatments themselves. These quality-adjusted life year weights may be readily incorporated into value assessments for papillary thyroid microcarcinoma treatments.

2412 Cost effectiveness analysis of operative Versus antibiotic management for uncomplicated appendicitis

Cost-effectiveness of aortic valve replacement in the elderly: An introductory study

This study compared the deep inferior epigastric perforator (DIEP) flap and the free transverse rectus abdominis myocutaneous (TRAM) flap in postmastectomy reconstruction using a cost-effectiveness analysis. A decision analytic model was used. Medical costs associated with the two techniques were estimated from the Ontario Ministry of Health Schedule of Benefits for 2002. Hospital costs were obtained from St. Joseph's Healthcare, a university teaching hospital in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The utilities of clinically important health states related to breast reconstruction were obtained from 32 "experts" across Canada and converted into quality-adjusted life years. The probabilities of these various clinically important health states being associated with the DIEP and free TRAM flaps were obtained after a thorough review of the literature. The DIEP flap was more costly than the free TRAM flap ($7026.47 versus $6508.29), but it provided more quality-adjusted life years than the free TRAM flap (28.88 years versus 28.53 years). The baseline incremental cost-utility ratio was $1464.30 per quality-adjusted life year, favoring adoption of the DIEP flap. Sensitivity analyses were performed by assuming that the probabilities of occurrence of hernia, abdominal bulging, total flap loss, operating room time, and hospital stay were identical with the DIEP and free TRAM techniques. By assuming that the probability of postoperative hernia for the DIEP flap increased from 0.008 to 0.054 (same as for TRAM flap), the incremental cost-utility ratio changed to $1435.00 per quality-adjusted life year. A sensitivity analysis was performed for the complication of hernia because the DIEP flap allegedly diminishes this complication. Increasing the probability of abdominal bulge from 0.041 to 0.103 for the DIEP flap changed the ratio to $2731.78 per quality-adjusted life year. When the probability of total flap failure was increased from 0.014 to 0.016, the ratio changed to $1384.01 per quality-adjusted life year. When the time in the operating room was assumed to be the same for both flaps, the ratio changed to $4026.57 per quality-adjusted life year. If the hospital stay was assumed to be the same for both flaps, the ratio changed to $1944.30 per quality-adjusted life year. On the basis of the baseline calculation and sensitivity analyses, the DIEP flap remained a cost-effective procedure. Thus, adoption of this new technique for postmastectomy reconstruction is warranted in the Canadian health care system.

Timely identification of occult atrial fibrillation following cryptogenic stroke facilitates consideration of oral anticoagulation therapy. Extended electrocardiography monitoring beyond 24 to 48 h Holter monitoring improves atrial fibrillation detection rates, yet uncertainty remains due to upfront costs and the projected long-term benefit. We sought to determine the cost-effectiveness of three electrocardiography monitoring strategies in detecting atrial fibrillation after cryptogenic stroke. A decision-analytic Markov model was used to project the costs and outcomes of three different electrocardiography monitoring strategies (i.e. 30-day electrocardiography monitoring, three-year implantable loop recorder monitoring, and conventional Holter monitoring) in acute stroke survivors without previously documented atrial fibrillation. The lifetime discounted costs and quality-adjusted life years were $206,385 and 7.77 quality-adjusted life years for conventional monitoring, $207,080 and 7.79 quality-adjusted life years for 30-day extended electrocardiography monitoring, and $210,728 and 7.88 quality-adjusted life years for the implantable loop recorder strategy. Additional quality-adjusted life years could be attained at a more favorable incremental cost per quality-adjusted life year with the implantable loop recorder strategy, compared with the 30-day electrocardiography monitoring strategy, thereby eliminating the 30-day strategy by extended dominance. The implantable loop recorder strategy was associated with an incremental cost per quality-adjusted life year gained of $40,796 compared with conventional monitoring. One-way sensitivity analyses indicated that the model was most sensitive to the rate of recurrent ischemic stroke. An implantable loop recorder strategy for detection of occult atrial fibrillation in patients with cryptogenic stroke is more economically attractive than 30-day electrocardiography monitoring compared to conventional monitoring and is associated with a cost per quality-adjusted life year gained in the range of other publicly funded therapies. The value proposition is improved when considering patients at the highest risk of recurrent ischemic stroke. However, the implantable loop recorder strategy is associated with increased health care costs, and the opportunity cost of wide scale implementation must be considered.

Background: In cost-effectiveness analyses in healthcare, Quality-Adjusted Life Years are often used as outcome measure of effectiveness. However, there is an ongoing debate concerning the appropriateness of its use for decision-making in palliative care. Aim: To systematically map pros and cons of using the Quality-Adjusted Life Year to inform decisions on resource allocation among palliative care interventions, as brought forward in the debate, and to discuss the Quality-Adjusted Life Year’s value for palliative care. Design: The integrative review method of Whittemore and Knafl was followed. Theoretical arguments and empirical findings were mapped. Data sources: A literature search was conducted in PubMed, EMBASE, and CINAHL, in which MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) terms were Palliative Care, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Quality of Life, and Quality-Adjusted Life Years. Findings: Three themes regarding the pros and cons were identified: (1) restrictions in life years gained, (2) conceptualization of quality of life and its measurement, including suggestions to adapt this, and (3) valuation and additivity of time, referring to changing valuation of time. The debate is recognized in empirical studies, but alternatives not yet applied. Conclusion: The Quality-Adjusted Life Year might be more valuable for palliative care if specific issues are taken into account. Despite restrictions in life years gained, Quality-Adjusted Life Years can be achieved in palliative care. However, in measuring quality of life, we recommend to—in addition to the EQ-5D— make use of quality of life or capability instruments specifically for palliative care. Also, we suggest exploring the possibility of integrating valuation of time in a non-linear way in the Quality-Adjusted Life Year.

Thyroid lobectomy as a cost-effective approach in low-risk papillary thyroid cancer versus active surveillance

PIN16 Disease Burden of Progressive Chronic Hepatitis B in China