INTRODUCTION Pregnancy and the first few years of a child's life are important windows of opportunity in which to equalise life chances. A Better Start (ABS) is an area-based intervention being delivered in five areas of socioeconomic disadvantage across England. This protocol describes an evaluation of the impact and cost-effectiveness of ABS. METHODS AND ANALYSIS The evaluation of ABS compr...

When health effects can be valued in monetary terms, as in cost-benefit analysis, they should be discounted at the same rate as costs. If health effects are measured in quantities (e.g. quality adjusted life years) as in cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) and the value of health effects is increasing over time, discounting the volume of health effects at a lower rate than costs is a valid method...

OBJECTIVE This article explores key principles of comparative effectiveness analysis--in particular, how radiologic comparative and cost-effectiveness studies differ from other clinical trials. Exemplary studies are reviewed to show how comparative effectiveness has been implemented in radiology and how future studies might be conducted. Finally, the article closes with a discussion of several ...

The authors present an analysis of the choice of sample sizes for demonstrating cost-effectiveness of a new treatment or procedure, when data on both cost and efficacy will be collected in a clinical trial. The Bayesian approach to statistics is employed, as well as a novel Bayesian criterion that provides insight into the sample size problem and offers a very flexible formulation.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the cost-effectiveness of a comprehensive programme for drug-resistant tuberculosis launched in four sites in China in 2011. METHODS In 2011-2012, we reviewed the records of 172 patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis who enrolled in the comprehensive programme and we collected relevant administrative data from hospitals and China's public health agency. For compari...

BACKGROUND A number of different measures can be used within cost-utility analyses, we compared results according to both the EQ-5D and SF-6D. METHODS A randomized trial was conducted to compare 4 options for people with knee pain. Over the 2 year trial period, the change in cost to health-service was estimated, and both the EQ-5D and SF-6D were used to estimate the change in quality-adjusted...

To aid priority setting in prevention, the Assessing Cost-Effectiveness in Prevention Project (ACE-Prevention) applies standardised evaluation methods to assess the cost-effectiveness of 100 to 150 preventive interventions, taking predominantly a health sector perspective. This information is intended to help decision makers move resources from less efficient current practices to more efficient...

BACKGROUND Fruits and vegetables are an essential part of the human diet, but many people do not consume the recommended serves to prevent cardiovascular disease and cancer. In this research, we evaluate the cost-effectiveness of interventions to promote fruit and vegetable consumption to determine which interventions are good value for money, and by how much current strategies can reduce the p...

OBJECTIVE To assess the cost-effectiveness of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) compared with medical management in patients with severe aortic stenosis who are ineligible for conventional aortic valve replacement (SAVR) from the perspective of the UK National Health Service. DESIGN Probabilistic decision analytical model. METHODS A decision analytical model was developed to as...