Generic measures of benefit which employ individuals' preferences, such as the quality-adjusted life-year (QALY), are, in principle, the most appropriate outcome measure to use in the economic evaluation of cancer therapies. They can reflect the trade-offs between health-related quality of life...

In a recent leading article in PharmacoEconomics, Nuijten described some methods for incorporating uncertainty into health economic models and for utilising the information on uncertainty regarding the cost effectiveness of a therapy in resource allocation decision-making. His proposals are...

There is increasing recognition that decision modelling is central to health technology assessment and, in particular, to analyses to support formal decision making regarding the funding of the use of new technologies. In part, the key role of decision analysis stems from the need to handle...

Recently, health systems internationally have begun to use cost-effectiveness research as formal inputs into decisions about which interventions and programmes should be funded from collective resources. This process has raised some important methodological questions for this area of research....

DOI: 10.2165/0019053-200826090-00001

Background: Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) causes some of the most frequently seen symptoms in both primary and secondary care. An estimated 4-5 patients (age range 18-60 years) per 10_000 (0.045% of the general population) are receiving maintenance proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) for...

Background: The use of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) can enable dose intensification of chemotherapy in small-cell lung cancer (SCLC). However, given its acquisition cost, it is important to assess its cost effectiveness within a resource-constrained health service. Objective: To...

Objective: To assess both the health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) and the economic value of erythropoietin treatment in chemotherapy-related anaemia using direct utility elicitation and discrete choice experiment (DCE) methods from a societal perspective in the UK. Methods: The time...

Background: To assess the cost effectiveness of healthcare interventions from a societal perspective, it is necessary to include costs such as patients' travel costs and the opportunity cost of patients' time spent consuming healthcare. Objective: To analyse patients' travel and time costs...

Background: The Disability in Strategies for Care (DISC) study was the first large randomised controlled trial to compare alternative treatment strategies in the acute treatment of migraine. With 835 patients in its intention-to-treat efficacy analysis, DISC compared a stratified care strategy,...