Objectives To assess whether recently-proposed alternatives to the quality-adjusted life year (QALY), intended to address concerns about discrimination, are suitable for informing resource allocation decisions. Methods We consider two alternatives to the QALY: the Health Years in Total (HYT), recently proposed by Basu et al., and the Equal Value of Life Years Gained (evLYG),…
BackgroundPostpartum depression (PPD) affects 10-15% of women, is costly and debilitating, yet often remains undiagnosed. Within Alberta, Canada, screening is conducted at public health well child clinics using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. If screened high-risk, women are offered referral to their family physicians for follow up diagnosis and treatment.
Although probabilistic analysis has become the accepted standard for decision analytic cost-effectiveness models, deterministic one-way sensitivity analysis continues to be used to meet the need of decision makers to understand the impact that changing the value taken by one specific parameter has on the results of the analysis. The value of a probabilistic form of one-way sensitivity…
Enzalutamide (Enza) is an effective treatment for metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (mCPRC). However, Enza is not cost-effective (CE) at willingness to pay (WTP) thresholds from $0-$125 000/quality adjusted life years (QALYs) and is therefore a strain on valuable health care dollars. Metformin (Met) is inexpensive (~$8.00/month) and is thought to improve prostate cancer…
Overconsumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) contributes to childhood and adult obesity and numerous related diseases, including heart disease, strokes, cancers, and type 2 diabetes. It also increases healthcare costs. Sugary drink taxes have been implemented in several countries to curb sugar intake. However, there is a concern that sugary drink taxes are regressive. This…
This study examined children’s health care service use, mothers’ workforce participation, and mothers’ community engagement based on children’s risk of developmental delay.
This analysis, published in BMC Psychiatry, aimed to determine cost-effectiveness of a stepped-care pathway for depression in adults in primary care versus standard care (SC), treatment-as-usual (TAU), and online cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).
The aim of this study is to describe how generic preference?based health?related quality of life (HRQoL) instruments have been used in research involving children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD).
| Malek Hannouf, Gregory Zaric, Phillip Blanchette, Christine Brezden-Masley, Mike Paulden, Christopher McCabe, Jacques Raphael, Muriel Brackstone
The authors examined the cost-effectiveness of incorporating these assays into standard practice. A decision model was built to project lifetime clinical and economic consequences of different adjuvant treatment-guiding strategies. The model was parameterized using follow-up data from a secondary analysis of the Anastrozole or Tamoxifen Alone or Combined randomized trial, cost…
Purpose: Growing up with a sibling with a neurodevelopmental disorder can have positive and negative effects on personal, social and emotional well-being; however, little is known about the impacts on unaffected siblings’ quality of life. The purpose of this review was to synthesize evidence from studies evaluating the quality of life of unaffected siblings of children with…
Abstract: Affecting 10–15% of women, postpartum depression (PPD) can be debilitating and costly. While early identification has the potential to improve timely care, recommendations regarding the implementation of routine screening are inconsistent. In Alberta, screening is completed using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale during public health well child clinic visits.…
Education of women regarding healthy lifestyle choices is an important function for prenatal care providers. Within Canada, women choose to receive pregnancy care from one of a variety of publicly funded care providers. This study examines the association between the type of care provider(s) seen during pregnancy and the provision of advice related to nutrition, weight management,…
Early detection of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) enables access to early interventions for children. We assess the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ)’s ability to identify children with a NDD in population data.
Economic evaluation is a tool used to inform decision makers on the efficiency of comparative healthcare interventions and inform resource allocation decisions. There is a growing need for the use of economic evaluations to assess the value of interventions for children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), a population that has increasing demands for healthcare services. Unfortunately,…
An increasing number of family service agencies and community-based mental health service providers are implementing a single-session walk-in counselling (SSWIC) as an alternative to traditional counselling. However, few economic evaluations have been undertaken.
The volume and technical complexity of both academic and commercial research using decision analytic modelling has increased rapidly over the last two decades. The range of software programs used for their implementation has also increased, but it remains true that a small number of programs account for the vast majority of cost-effectiveness modelling work. We report a comparison…
The cost-effectiveness threshold in health care systems with a constrained budget should be determined by the cost-effectiveness of displacing health care services to fund new interventions. Using comparative statics, we review some potential determinants of the threshold, including the budget for health care, the demand for existing health care interventions, the technical efficiency…