OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to compare the cost-effectiveness of 9 strategies for the management of threatened preterm labor. STUDY DESIGN We derived 6 management options from the literature. These were (1) to treat all women with tocolytics and corticosteroids ("treat all"); (2) to treat all women while awaiting results of the "traditional" fetal fibronectin test results, then ...

ostoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) is a common complication of surgery and anesthesia. PONV can result in physical and physiological complications, including aspiration of vomitus, esophageal trauma (Mallory Weiss s y n d rome or Boerh a a v e ’s syndrome), dehydration, and alkalemia, as well as emotional distress. Avoidance of PONV is a major concern for patients undergoing surgical anest...

M ORETHAN 30YEARSAGO, BRONOWSKI, WHO SPOKE so poetically about the ethos of science, wrote that “the body of scientists is trained to avoid and organized to resist every form of persuasion but the fact.” The values of science, he argued, are “inescapable conditions for its practice." But the practice of science, especially the biomedical sciences, has changed significantly since Bronowski made ...

Placement of dental implants may improve the retention and stability of complete dentures in edentulous patients. Treatment costs, however, substantially increase with implant treatment. We therefore performed a stochastic cost-effectiveness analysis, comparing implant-supported over-denture prostheses (4 implants), implant-retained overdentures (2 implants), and complete dentures, from the pat...

BACKGROUND Many guidelines recommend screening mammography every 1-2 years for women older than 40 years; more than 70% of women now participate in routine screening. No studies have examined the societal impact of screening practices over the past decade in the United States on costs and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs). We performed a retrospective cost-effectiveness analysis comparing act...

Linear regression models are often used to represent the cost and effectiveness of medical treatment. The covariates used may include sociodemographic variables, such as age, gender or race; clinical variables, such as initial health status, years of treatment or the existence of concomitant illnesses; and a binary variable indicating the treatment received. However, most studies estimate only ...

H eart failure is the leading cause of hospitalization in adults older than 65 years, and it is currently the most costly cardiovascular disorder in the United States, with estimated annual expenditures in excess of $20 billion. Recent studies have shown that selected pharmacological agents, behavioral interventions, and surgical therapies are associated with improved clinical outcomes in patie...

The paper explores what macroeconomic factors can tell us about the effectiveness of recently enacted national competition laws. Qualitative evidence suggests that numerous countries fall short in implementing competition law. Furthermore, there seems to be significant differences between countries. To examine what factors might contribute to the explanation of effectiveness of competition law ...

The economic implications of regulations governing radon gas level identification and remediation in buildings are poorly understood, and attempts to address these issues have been criticised for lack of comparability. It is imperative therefore that a general model for the economic evaluation of radon remediation programmes is adopted to ensure comparability between studies and settings and to...