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The retreat of Hemophilus influenzae type B invasive disease: analysis of an immunization program and implications for OTO-HNS.

Hemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) is the most common cause of bacterial meningitis among children under 5 years old. Hib is also responsible for other invasive diseases including epiglottitis, cellulitis, sepsis, pneumonia, and osteomyelitis. A child's cumulative risk of systemic Hib disease during the first 5 years of life is approximately 1 in 200. A polysaccharide Hib vaccine was first marketed in 1985, and newer, more effective conjugated vaccines have been licensed since 1987. Immunization schedules have included increasingly younger children. No studies have been published that analyze the effects of a vigorous immunization program on a sample population representative of the United States at large. Records of pediatric patients ages 5 years and younger who were treated for Hib meningitis or epiglottitis (N = 373) at all U.S. Army medical facilities between 1986 and 1991 were reviewed. The combined incidence of these diseases declined by more than 86% in the study group during this period. The largest decrease occurred in infants less than 1 year old, before vaccines were licensed for use in this group. Meanwhile, the number of cases of bacterial meningitis due to other organisms in this cohort remained unchanged. Economic modeling validates the cost-effectiveness of vaccination. The impact of these preliminary trends on health care systems and otolaryngology-head and neck surgery will be significant. Almost two thirds of Hib disease has involved infants under 15 months old, for whom a conjugated vaccine has been available only since October 1990. The change in disease frequency will have substantial bearing on training programs, because management of neurologic sequelae and the emergent airway require the expertise of otolaryngologists. In the face of medical onslaught, Hib invasive disease is in retreat.

Child, Preschool↗

Policy implications of an annuity approach to integrating long-term care financing and retirement income.

The authors consider an integrated income and disability annuity as an alternative framework for long-term care financing, show that pooling disability and mortality risks can reduce the need for medical underwriting, and discuss private and public implications. Data from the National Mortality Followback Survey of 1986 were used to simulate current underwriting and minimal underwriting, excluding only those already eligible for benefits. Remaining disability, life expectancy, and premiums are compared under both underwriting assumptions. Under minimal underwriting, 98% of persons age 65 would be eligible to purchase disability protection through an integrated annuity, versus 77% under current underwriting. Premiums for both the income and disability components were lower with minimal underwriting. Combining income and disability protection may be able to expand private markets for long-term care financing beyond what appears possible in the long-term care insurance market. Public policy should avoid the distortion of choices created by focusing exclusively on an insurance model.

Aged↗

The demand for OTC medicines: some Australian evidence.

One of the major social goals of the government in any country is the provision of adequate health care for all its residents. This is certainly the case in Australia where total health expenditure as a proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) has risen since the early 1970s to its current level of over 7%. Well over half of this health expenditure comes from the public purse upon which increasing demands are being made. One potential means of reducing this pressure in the health area is a greater reliance on self health care which includes the use of OTC medicines. The present paper examines the economics of self health care through the specification of an economic model of the demand for self care and the empirical testing of this model using Australian data. The model is then used to calculate the consumer surplus in the market for OTC medicines as a measure of part of the benefits of self medication in the Australian health care system.

Australia↗

A cost-utility analysis of low-dose hormone replacement therapy in postmenopausal women with an intact uterus.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate the cost utility of one year's treatment with a low-dose conjugated estrogen/medroxyprogesterone acetate (CE/MPA low dose) preparation (Premique Low Dose [Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Maidenhead, UK]), compared with a higher-dose preparation (Premique; CE/MPA [Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Maidenhead, UK]), in postmenopausal women with an intact uterus. The evaluation captured the resource implications associated with the difference in treatment discontinuation and adverse event driven consultations in patients receiving either the low- or higher-dose preparation. This economic evaluation was conducted from the perspective of the NHS. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: A health economic model was developed to calculate the incremental cost per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained from treatment with a lower-dose CE/MPA combination, compared with a higher-dose CE/MPA preparation. Cohorts of 100 patients were assumed to receive either CE/MPA low dose or CE/MPA for one year. A probabilistic sensitivity analysis was used to explore whether the base case model was robust to the assumptions employed. Neither costs nor consequences were discounted because of the one year timeframe. RESULTS: In the base case, CE/MPA low dose dominates, i.e. it showed a greater health gain at a reduced cost, in both mild and severe symptom populations. These results were repeated in the sensitivity analysis, with the cost-effectiveness planes for both mild and severe symptom populations showing a greater utility at a reduced cost. CONCLUSIONS: CE/MPA low dose has been demonstrated to be a cost-effective treatment of estrogen-deficiency symptoms in postmenopausal women with an intact uterus. It has great potential for increasing the number of patients benefiting from relief of menopausal symptoms while also reducing the resource utilisation associated with managing the adverse effects associated with higher-dose HRT.

Cost-Benefit Analysis↗

Assessing harmful effects in systematic reviews.

BACKGROUND: Balanced decisions about health care interventions require reliable evidence on harms as well as benefits. Most systematic reviews focus on efficacy and randomised trials, for which the methodology is well established. Methods to systematically review harmful effects are less well developed and there are few sources of guidance for researchers. We present our own recent experience of conducting systematic reviews of harmful effects and make suggestions for future practice and further research. METHODS: We described and compared the methods used in three systematic reviews. Our evaluation focused on the review question, study designs and quality assessment. RESULTS: One review question focused on providing information on specific harmful effects to furnish an economic model, the other two addressed much broader questions. All three reviews included randomised and observational data, although each defined the inclusion criteria differently. Standard methods were used to assess study quality. Various practical problems were encountered in applying the study design inclusion criteria and assessing quality, mainly because of poor study design, inadequate reporting and the limitations of existing tools. All three reviews generated a large volume of work that did not yield much useful information for health care decision makers. The key areas for improvement we identified were focusing the review question and developing methods for quality assessment of studies of harmful effects. CONCLUSIONS: Systematic reviews of harmful effects are more likely to yield information pertinent to clinical decision-making if they address a focused question. This will enable clear decisions to be made about the type of research to include in the review. The methodology for assessing the quality of harmful effects data in systematic reviews requires further development.

Anticonvulsants↗

Common mental disorders in primary care in Harare, Zimbabwe: associations and risk factors.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the associations for common mental disorders (CMD) among primary care attenders in Harare. METHOD: This was an unmatched case-control study of attenders at primary health clinics, general practitioner surgeries and traditional medical practitioner clinics; 199 cases with CMD as identified by an indigenously developed case-finding questionnaire, and 197 controls (non-cases), were interviewed using measures of sociodemographic data, disability, care-giver diagnoses and treatment, explanatory models, life events and alcohol use. RESULTS: CMD was associated with female gender (P = 0.04) and older age (P = 0.02). After adjustment for age, gender and site of recruitment, CMD was significantly associated with chronicity of illness; number of presenting complaints; beliefs in "thinking too much" and witchcraft as a causal model; economic impoverishment; infertility; recent unemployment; an unhappy childhood for females; disability; and consultations with traditional medical practitioners and religious priests. CONCLUSIONS: Mental disorders are associated with female gender, disability, economic deprivation, and indigenous labels of distress states.

Age Factors↗

Estimating the relationship between disease progression and cost of care in dementia.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown a positive relationship between disease severity and cost. AIMS: To explore the factors affecting time to institutionalisation and estimate the relationship between the costs of care and disease progression. METHOD: Retrospective analysis of a longitudinal data-set for a cohort of 100 patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease or vascular dementia. RESULTS: Changes in both Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Barthel scores have independent and significant marginal effects on costs. Each one-point decline in the MMSE score is associated with a pound sterling 56 increase in the four-monthly costs, whereas each one-point fall in the Barthel index is associated with a pound sterling 586 increase in costs. CONCLUSIONS: It may be inappropriate for economic models of disease progression in dementia to be based solely on measures of cognitive change. MMSE and the Barthel index are independent significant predictors of time to institutionalisation and cost of care, but changes in the Barthel index are particularly important in predicting costs outside institutional care.

Age Factors↗

Analysis of the cost-effectiveness of paclitaxel as alternative combination therapy for advanced ovarian cancer.

PURPOSE: A phase III trial by the Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) provides strong evidence that a new alternative therapy--paclitaxel (Taxol; Bristol-Myers Squibb Co, Princeton, NJ) in combination with cisplatin (Platinol; Bristol-Myers Squibb Co)--is clinically more effective than the standard therapy using cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan; Bristol-Myers Squibb Co) in combination with cisplatin in the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer. We conducted a pharmacoeconomic analysis to determine whether the alternative paclitaxel-cisplatin (TP) therapy is cost-effective (CE) in comparison to standard cyclophosphamide-cisplatin (CP) therapy. METHODS: Using an economic model, we applied cost data figures to resource utilization data derived from the two arms of the GOG trial. We examined paclitaxel benefits in terms of increased mean survival time, as well as median survival time. Estimates of the cumulative proportion surviving in the trial were based on Kaplan-Meier procedures. RESULTS: Per year of life gained (YLG), TP therapy costs more ($19,820 more for inpatient treatment; $21,222 outpatient) than CP treatment. CONCLUSION: The TP regimen's increased mean survival cost per YLG (inpatient and outpatient settings) adds a substantial benefit at an acceptable cost compared with CP therapy.

Antineoplastic Agents↗

Inpatient costs, length of stay, and mortality for cerebrovascular events in community hospitals.

BACKGROUND: Accurate estimates of inpatient cost, length of stay (LOS), and mortality are necessary for the development of economic models to estimate the cost-effectiveness of stroke-related treatments. Estimates based on data from academic institutions may not be generalizable to community hospitals. In this study, the authors estimated inpatient costs, LOS, and in-hospital mortality for patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), ischemic cerebral infarction (ICI), and TIA who were treated in community hospitals. METHODS: The authors selected patients using International Classification of Diseases-9-Clinical Modification primary diagnosis codes from the HBSI EXPLORE database. They analyzed patient-level data and inpatient costs, derived from detailed utilization data, for all patients admitted to 137 community hospitals in 1998. Multivariate statistical techniques were used to examine patient-, hospital-, and outcome-related factors associated with inpatient costs. RESULTS: Patients with SAH incurred the highest average cost ($23,777, n = 1,124), followed by patients with ICH ($10,241, n = 3,139), ICI ($5,837, n = 18,740), and TIA ($3,350, n = 7,861). Patient subgroups ranked in the same order for average LOS at 11.5 days for SAH, 7.5 days for ICH, 5.9 days for ICI, and 3.4 days for TIA. Almost one third of patients with SAH (29.0%) and ICH (33.1%) died during hospitalization, whereas 7.0% with ICI and 0.2% with TIA died. For each event, as patient age increased, average costs consistently decreased. Also, average costs were higher among patients treated in community teaching hospitals compared to community nonteaching hospitals for each cerebrovascular event (10 to 29%). CONCLUSIONS: Inpatient costs, LOS, and mortality for patients with cerebrovascular disease are dependent on patient and hospital characteristics.

Aged↗

The impact of public health care financing policies on private-sector hospital costs.

Two of the best-known economic models of hospital behavior are utilized to examine theoretically the issue of cross-subsidization of hospital costs between public and private-pay patients. It is shown that the existence of public/private hospital-charge differentials does not, in itself, demonstrate that public programs are subsidized by the private sector. This differential is to be expected, whether hospitals are considered to be monopolistic profit maximizers or controlled by physicians. While cost-based hospital reimbursement may be dynamically inefficient, it is shown to have certain static efficiency properties when hospitals provide services to both public and private patients.

Costs and Cost Analysis↗

[Economic analysis of strategic behavior in dispensing pharmacies in the separation of dispensing and prescribing functions].

In recent years, the system for the separation of dispensing and prescribing functions (SDP) has progressed in Japan. However, because of the failure of the healthcare system, it is difficult to estimate how the system of SDP contributes to the improvement of patient utility and welfare. In this paper, I try to evaluate the SDP by analyzing the strategic behavior of dispensing pharmacies, employing some economic models under imperfect information. In these models, quality is characterized as a strategic variable in monopolistic or duopolistic competition. As a result, I show that competition among dispensing pharmacies in the SDP raises the quality of pharmaceutical services, but there is some possibility of "excess entry" with free entry.

Drug Prescriptions↗

The tensions between education and models of nurse preparation.

This article seeks to explore the relationship that has evolved between the training and education models of nurse preparation since the creation of the NHS. Through the process of professional reflection it intends to investigate how each model develops the profession and enhances care delivery. It seeks to move away from an either/or approach that has dominated the nurse education debate, and instead seeks to identify the potential benefits, as well as the tensions, of trying to integrate these models into a modern context. In so doing, this article hopes to inform practitioners about the debate so that they can engage with it more fully and effectively.

Clinical Competence↗

Cost-effectiveness of treating deep diabetic foot ulcers with Promogran in four European countries.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to estimate the cost-effectiveness of treating non-superficial diabetic foot ulcers with Promogran plus good wound care (GWC) compared with GWC alone in four European countries (France, Germany, Switzerland and UK). METHODS: An existing Markov-based health economic model of non-superficial diabetic foot ulcers was adapted to incorporate the relative efficacy of Promogran compared with GWC alone as demonstrated in a randomised controlled trial. Treatment with Promogran was modelled for a maximum of three months. Country-specific treatment costs were used to estimate the incremental cost per ulcer-free day gained over 12 months. Some parameter assumptions were changed to assess the sensitivity of the results. RESULTS: Within the first three months of treatment, 26% of ulcers in the Promogran cohort healed compared with 20.7% in the GWC cohort. Over the 12 months, the average number of months spent in the healed state was 3.41 (GWC) and 3.75 (Promogran). Promogran treatment was found to be cost-saving in all four countries, using year 2000 Euro values. CONCLUSION: Promogran with GWC may be cost-effective, perhaps even cost-saving, under a wide variety of assumptions for the treatment of neuropathic foot ulcers. DECLARATION OF INTEREST: This study was funded by Ethicon Gmbh (Johnson and Johnson), Germany.

Bandages↗

Temporal detection in human vision: dependence on stimulus energy.

We have previously proposed and evaluated an economical model of human performance in tasks requiring spatiotemporal signal detection in spatiotemporal noise [Vision Research (to be published)]. The model was successful in describing human psychophysical performance and provides a means for comparing temporal filters (mechanisms) employed under different stimulus conditions. We present investigations into how estimates of temporal mechanisms depend on the contrast energy of the stimulus. Temporal-sensitivity changes result in covariation of the cutoff and peak frequencies of the low-pass and bandpass mechanisms, respectively, with stimulus energy. The results indicate that sensitivity to high temporal frequencies increases as stimulus energy increases, commensurate with extent physiological evidence in cat and primate.

Humans↗

Potential cost savings of decreased emergency department visits through increased continuity in a pediatric medical home.

PURPOSE: To determine the potential cost savings of decreased emergency department (ED) visits resulting from increased continuity of care provided in a pediatric medical home. METHODS: An economic modeling study comparing the cost of ED visits associated with average continuity of care versus the cost of ED visits associated with a 10% point increase in continuity was performed. This model's premise is that increased continuity will decrease care in the ED. Parameters of the model included average continuity of care and expected use of the ED by pediatric patients as well as the relationship between these two variables. Parameters were estimated from the literature. Average continuity, as measured by the Continuity of Care Index by Bice and Boxerman, was determined to be 40%. Average ED use was estimated to be 0.68 visits/child per year. Continuity of care was stratified into low, medium, and high levels. The Medical University of South Carolina's ED charges were used. An average pediatric practice was estimated to contain 2000 patients. RESULTS: Two hypothetical practices of 2000 patients each were created to represent pediatric medical homes: practice 1 received 40% continuity and practice 2 received 50%. The model's outcome was measured in terms of expected ED charges per practice averted over a 1-year period. Increasing continuity of care by 10% points yielded a decline in expected ED visits from 1362 to 1290 per practice: 19,905 US dollars was saved. CONCLUSION: Continuity of care can yield many benefits, including cost savings from decreased charges associated with less frequent ED use.

Child↗

Massachusetts reform plus President Bush's tax credits: a national model?

The Massachusetts health reform offers an important opportunity for a new federal-state strategy to cover the uninsured. President George Bush's proposed health insurance tax credits could be added to the Massachusetts health reform. The combined plan would include Medicaid expansions; offer workers affordable coverage through competitive insurance markets; and provide federal, state, employer, and individual financing. Many other states might be interested in similar federal-state partnerships for the forty-five million uninsured Americans. Ending the national impasse on coverage needs this kind of bold initiative.

Health Benefit Plans, Employee↗

Biomass conversion to mixed alcohol fuels using the MixAlco process.

The MixAlco process is a patented technology that converts any biodegradable material (e.g., sorted municipal solid waste, sewage sludge, industrial biosludge, manure, agricultural residues, energy crops) into mixed alcohol fuels containing predominantly 2-propanol, but also higher alcohols up to 7-tridecanol. The feedstock is treated with lime to increase its digestibility. Then, it is fed to a fermentor in which a mixed culture of acid-forming microorganisms produces carboxylic acids. Calcium carbonate is added to the fermentor to neutralize the acids to their corresponding carboxylate salt. The dilute (approximately 3%) carboxylate salts are concentrated to 19% using an amine solvent that selectively extracts water. Drying is completed using multi-effect evaporators. Finally, the dry salts are thermally converted to ketones which subsequently are hydrogenated to alcohols. All the steps in the MixAlco process have been proven at the laboratory scale. A techno-economic model of the process indicates that with the tipping fees available in New York (126 dollars/dry tonne), mixed alcohol fuels may be sold for 0.04 dollars/L (0.16 dollars/gal) with a 60% return on investment (ROI). With the average tipping fee in the United States rates (63 dollars/dry tonne), mixed alcohol fuels may be sold for 0.18 dollars/L (0.69 dollars/gal) with a 15% ROI. In the case of sugarcane bagasse, which may be obtained for about 26 dollars/dry ton, mixed alcohol fuels may be sold for 0.29 dollars/L (1.09 dollars/gal) with a 15% ROI.

Journal Article↗