Cost-effectiveness of interventions for increasing the possession of functioning smoke alarms in households with pre-school children: a modelling study
نویسندگان
چکیده
BACKGROUND The UK has one of the highest rates for deaths from fire and flames in children aged 0-14 years compared to other high income countries. Evidence shows that smoke alarms can reduce the risk of fire-related injury but little exists on their cost-effectiveness. We aimed to compare the cost effectiveness of different interventions for the uptake of 'functioning' smoke alarms and consequently for the prevention of fire-related injuries in children in the UK. METHODS We carried out a decision model-based probabilistic cost-effectiveness analysis. We used a hypothetical population of newborns and evaluated the impact of living in a household with or without a functioning smoke alarm during the first 5 years of their life on overall lifetime costs and quality of life from a public health perspective. We compared seven interventions, ranging from usual care to more complex interventions comprising of education, free/low cost equipment giveaway, equipment fitting and/or home safety inspection. RESULTS Education and free/low cost equipment was the most cost-effective intervention with an estimated incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of £34,200 per QALY gained compared to usual care. This was reduced to approximately £4,500 per QALY gained when 1.8 children under the age of 5 were assumed per household. CONCLUSIONS Assessing cost-effectiveness, as well as effectiveness, is important in a public sector system operating under a fixed budget restraint. As highlighted in this study, the more effective interventions (in this case the more complex interventions) may not necessarily be the ones considered the most cost-effective.
منابع مشابه
Cost-effectiveness of interventions for increasing the possession of functioning smoke alarms in households with pre-school children: a modelling study Reply to comments/suggestions from reviewers
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Network meta-analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions to increase the uptake of smoke alarms.
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عنوان ژورنال:
دوره 14 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2014