Cost-Effectiveness of Exercise Therapy in Patients with Intermittent Claudication—A Comparison of Supervised Exercise, Home-Based Structured Exercise, and Walk Advice from the SUNFIT Trial

Hospital-based supervised exercise (SEP) is a guideline-recommended intervention for patients with intermittent claudication (IC). However, due to the limited availability of SEP, home-based structured programs (HSEP) have become increasingly popular alongside “go home and walk” advice. We evaluated cost-effectiveness walk advice (WA) Nordic pole walking vs. SEP combined WA or HSEP WA. used data from SUNFIT RCT (NCT02341716) measure quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) over 12-month follow-up, economic costs were obtained hospital cost-per-patient accounting system. Incremental ratios (ICERs) calculated, uncertainty was assessed using nonparametric bootstrapping. The average health-care-cost per patient similar in (EUR 1781, n = 51) 1820, 48) groups but higher group 4619, 50, p-value < 0.01). Mean QALYs during follow-up no statistically significant differences. findings do not support as cost-effective treatment IC, it incurred significantly without providing additional health improvements one-year observation period. analysis also suggested that may be compared WA, only 64% probability.