BACKGROUND The seasonal variation of influenza and influenza-like illness (ILI) is well known. However, studies assessing the factual direct costs of ILI for an entire population are rare. METHODS In this register study, we analyzed the seasonal variation of ILI-related healthcare visits and hospital admissions for children aged 2 to 17 years, and the resultant parental absence from work, for...

OBJECTIVES To calculate total costs over 6 years after diagnosis of early rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHOD In the longitudinal prospective multicentre TIRA study, 239 patients from seven units, diagnosed in 1996-98, reported regularly on health-care utilization and the number of days lost from work. Costs were obtained from official databases and calculated using unit costs (Swedish kronor, ...

There are several examples of heuristic rules first proposed from empirical observation, which eventually earned physicochemical validity after the fundamental derivation of a posteriori. This may be the case of Sherwood’s plot – for which a sound rationalization from first principles, entailing enthalpy and mass balances, is provided here; it applies to (fine) chemicals undergoing concentr...

Background and Objective: This study assessed price differences by comparing annual treatment costs of similarly available orphan drugs in France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and UK. Methods: Annual treatment costs per drug were calculated using ex-factory prices from IHS POLI and country price databases. The treatment cost in the comparator country was compared to the UK and ratios ...