BACKGROUND Health adjusted life years (HALYs) are used for estimating burden of disease and as outcomes in cost-effectiveness analyses of medical care and public health interventions. OBJECTIVES The impact of use of health-related quality of life (HRQL) scores associated with the disability-adjusted life year (DALY), the quality-adjusted life year (QALY), and the years of healthy life (YHL) m...

Background Related to escalating health care costs and the questionable effectiveness of multiple interventions including lumbar facet joint interventions, cost effectiveness or cost utility analysis has become the cornerstone of evidence-based medicine influencing coverage decisions. Methods Cost utility of therapeutic lumbar facet joint nerve blocks in managing chronic low back pain was per...

BACKGROUND The 70-gene signature (MammaPrint) is a prognostic test used to guide adjuvant treatment decisions in patients with node-negative breast cancer. In order to decide upon its use, a systematic comparative analysis of the effects of the 70-gene signature, the Sankt Gallen guidelines and the Adjuvant Online Software for these patients on survival, quality of life and costs is warranted. ...

background: although studies reported diabetes mellitus screening cost effective, the mass screening for type2 diabetes remains controversial. in this study we reviewed the recently evidence about the cost effectiveness of mass screening systematically.   methods: we reviewed the medline, scopus, web of science (wos), and cochrane library databases by mesh terms to identify relevant studies fro...

background: although studies reported diabetes mellitus screening cost effective, the mass screening for type2 diabetes remains controversial. in this study we reviewed the recently evidence about the cost effectiveness of mass screening systematically.   methods: we reviewed the medline, scopus, web of science (wos), and cochrane library databases by mesh terms to identify relevant studies fro...

PURPOSE To evaluate the incremental effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a staged-based, computerized smoking cessation intervention relative to standard care in an urban managed care network of primary care physicians. DESIGN Decision-analytic model based on results of a randomized clinical trial. METHODOLOGY Patient outcomes and cost estimates were derived from clinical trial data. Eff...

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to determine the cost-effectiveness of knee arthroscopy and anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. METHODS Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data from a single-surgeon, institutional review board-approved outcomes registry included 2 cohorts: surgically treated knee arthroscopy and ACL reconstruction patients. Our outcome measure...

By polling individual responses to hypothetical scenarios, valuation studies estimate population preferences toward health on a quality-adjusted life year (QALY) scale. The scenarios typically involve trade-offs in time (time trade-off (TTO)), risk (standard gamble (SG)), or number of persons affected (person trade-off (PTO)). This paper revisits the QALY assumptions and provides a coherent hea...

INTRODUCTION Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has allowed many HIV-infected patients to enjoy longer survival and a better quality of life. We performed an economic analysis to estimate the cost-effectiveness of HAART regimens in Italy for managing HIV-naïve infected patients with a viral load below 100,000 copies/mL. PATIENTS AND METHODS The population considered in the model con...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of a 9-month preventive occupational therapy (OT) program in the Well-Elderly Study: a randomized trial in independent-living older adults that found significant health, function, and quality of life benefits attributable to preventive OT. DESIGN A randomized trial. SETTING Two government-subsidized apartment complexes. PARTICIPANTS One hundre...