BACKGROUND There is an urgent need for the development of cost-effective preventive strategies to reduce the onset of mental disorders. AIMS To establish the cost-effectiveness of a stepped care preventive intervention for depression and anxiety disorders in older people at high risk of these conditions, compared with routine primary care. METHOD An economic evaluation was conducted alongsi...

BACKGROUND Rates of nonadherence to aromatase inhibitors (AIs) among Medicare beneficiaries with hormone receptor-positive early breast cancer are high. Out-of-pocket drug costs appear to be an important contributor to this and may be addressed by eliminating copayments and other forms of patient cost sharing. The authors estimated the incremental cost-effectiveness of providing Medicare benefi...

G LAMBLIA is recognized as an important cause of acute illness in human beings. Community-wide waterborne outbreaks of giardiasis . have been documented with increasing frequency,' ' and backpackers have become ill after drinking water from mountain streams. 6 ' 7 Giardiasis has also occurred among travelers to foreign countries, although the methods of transmission in these situations are not ...

Cost-of-illness studies measure the economic burden of a disease and estimate the maximum amount that could potentially be saved or gained if a disease were to be eradicated. Direct medical costs and indirect costs are measured using top down and bottom up approaches Human Capital approach, Willingness-to-Pay (WTP) approach and Friction Costs approach respectively. The perspectives may measure ...

This paper analyses the factors that determine solid waste service costs. The empirical analysis is based on information derived from a survey conducted in a sample of Galician municipalities. The results reveal economies of scale in municipalities of fewer than 50,000 inhabitants, such that cooperation between these municipalities could lead to cost savings. It also appears that private delive...

The substantial number of ghost possessions that came to our attention during fieldwork in a North Indian village in 1977-78 led to a thorough study of ghost beliefs as part of a holistic study of village life. Ghosts are not phantoms floating on the periphery of village life, the concern only of children and the credulous. Rather, the study shows that ghosts are linked with basic Hindu beliefs...

This study examined the determinants of caregiving burden among South Koreans who care for their disabled older family members. A sample of 1000 primary caregivers taken from the Comprehensive Study for Elderly Welfare Policy in Seoul, South Korea was analyzed. Independent variables included the demographic characteristics of caregivers and care recipients, the severity of cognitive impairment ...

Cost of illness (COI) studies focus on allocating health expenditures to a comprehensive set of diseases. A variety of techniques have been used to allocate spending to diseases. In this paper, we compare spending attributed to diseases using three approaches: one based on the principal diagnosis listed on each encounter’s claim, a second based on all diagnoses listed on the encounter, and a th...

BACKGROUND Pharmacies and pharmacists play an important role in the health care system, improving health outcomes and enhancing quality through better pharmaceutical care. Yet, little information is available to accurately evaluate pharmacy store quality and thereby encourage quality improvement at the pharmacy store level. OBJECTIVES To (a) assess pharmacy performance in the area of medicati...