BACKGROUND Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) face a number of challenges in implementing cervical cancer prevention programmes that do not apply in high-income countries. OBJECTIVE This review assessed how context-specific challenges of implementing cervical cancer prevention strategies in LMICs were accounted for in existing cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) models of human papillomav...

BACKGROUND Methods for appropriate costing in Cost-effectiveness analyses (CEAs), seemingly straightforward, have always raised questions. Questions linger about what cost components to include under a "societal" perspective, as well as how to value resources. OBJECTIVES This article discusses issues surrounding costing and "perspective" in published CEA. METHODS I examine data from the Tuf...

There is a growing interest in new or modified research methods that can balance the needs for quick results and statistical rigor in studies of intervention effectiveness. Orthogonal design, which has been extensively used in manufacturing and other fields but not in published health care evaluations or comparative effectiveness research (CER), affords an opportunity to design interventions in...

Evidence-based reviews of published literature can be subject to several biases. Grey literature, however, can be of poor quality and expensive to access. Effective search strategies also vary by topic and are rarely known in advance. This paper complements a systematic review of the published literature on the costs and effects of expanding immunization services in developing countries. The qu...

BACKGROUND This study aimed at providing information for priority setting in the health care sector of Zimbabwe as well as assessing the efficiency of resource use. A general approach proposed by the World Bank involving the estimation of the burden of disease measured in Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) and calculation of cost-effectiveness ratios for a large number of health interventio...

Study population The study population comprised the patient populations (n=224) included in a published randomised controlled trial (RCT) (Bais et al. 2000, see 'Other Publications of Related Interest' below for bibliographic details) and a follow-up cohort study (reference not given). Patients in the RCT (n=103) either underwent conventional NF or laparoscopic NF. All patients in the follow-up...

BACKGROUND In Australia, there is no published study on the cost effectiveness of screening for chlamydia. The aim of this study was to examine the cost effectiveness of a hypothetical screening programme for chlamydia based on annual opportunistic testing of all women 25 years of age or younger consulting a general practitioner, compared with no screening. METHODS A decision-analytic modelli...

This article considers the role of cost-effectiveness studies in the formulary and disease-state management decisions of managed-care entities. In a recently published symposium volume [Soc Sci Med 1997; 45 (4): 505-647], US managed-care entities were found to be among the leaders in applying cost-effectiveness studies to healthcare decisions. At the same time, a number of barriers were identif...

The National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) has recently published a report (Report #137) that discusses various aspects of the concepts used in radiation protection and the difficulties in measuring the radiation environment in spacecraft for the estimation of radiation risk to space travelers. Two novel dosimetric methodologies, fluence-based and microdosimetric event...