OBJECTIVE To determine the cost-effectiveness of rapid testing and antiviral therapy for children of different ages with symptoms of influenza. DESIGN Cost-effectiveness analysis from the societal perspective using a decision model based on published data. SETTING Physician's office during an influenza A epidemic. PARTICIPANTS Hypothetical children aged 2, 7, and 15 years. INTERVENTIONS...

BACKGROUND A vaccine to prevent herpes zoster was recently approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration. We sought to determine the cost-effectiveness of this vaccine for different age groups. METHODS We constructed a cost-effectiveness model, based on the Shingles Prevention Study, to compare varicella zoster vaccination with usual care for healthy adults aged >60 years. Outcom...

OBJECTIVE To estimate the willingness to pay (WTP) per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) value for life-saving treatments and to determine factors affecting the WTP per QALY value. DESIGN A cross-sectional survey with multistage sampling and face-to-face interviews. SETTING General population in the southern part of Thailand. PARTICIPANTS A total of 600 individuals were included in the st...

Five percent of all pregnant women and 25% of pregnant women with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) develop postpartum thyroiditis (PPT) during the first year after delivery. PPT has significant morbidity and can be predicted prenatally by the presence of thyroid peroxidase (TPO) antibody. Our objective was to estimate the cost-effectiveness of screening pregnant women for the TPO anti...

OBJECTIVES This study sought to assess the cost-effectiveness of captopril therapy for survivors of myocardial infarction. BACKGROUND The recent randomized, controlled Survival and Ventricular Enlargement (SAVE) trial showed that captopril therapy improves survival in survivors of myocardial infarction with an ejection fraction < or = 40%. The present ancillary study was designed to determine...

BACKGROUND Compared with single-chamber ventricular pacing, dual-chamber pacing can reduce adverse events and, as a result, improve quality of life in patients paced for sick sinus syndrome. It is not clear, however, how these benefits compare with the increased cost of dual-chamber pacemakers. METHODS AND RESULTS We used 4-year data from a 2010-patient, randomized trial to estimate the incre...