Following a licence extension to include those aged 6-11 years, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) invited the manufacturer of omalizumab (Novartis Pharmaceuticals UK) to submit evidence for the clinical and cost effectiveness of this drug for patients with severe...

Background: Deferasirox is a recently approved once-daily oral iron chelator that has been shown to reduce liver iron concentrations and serum ferritin levels to a similar extent as infusional deferoxamine. Objective: To determine the cost effectiveness of deferasirox versus deferoxamine in...

The objective of this review was to analyse the methods of paediatric and adult cost-utility analyses (CUAs) conducted in US populations, and to compare the cost-utility ratios of health interventions by classifying them by disease prevention stage, intervention category and primary disease...

While pneumococcal conjugate vaccines have shown to be highly effective against invasive pneumococcal disease, their potential effectiveness against acute otitis media (AOM) might become a major economic driver for implementing these vaccines in national immunization programmes. However, the...

With the growth in the use of health economic evaluation to inform healthcare resource allocation decisions, the challenges in applying standard methods to child health have become apparent. A unique limitation is the paucity of child-specific preference-based measures. A single, valid,...

Background:Background: Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common psychiatric disorder in childhood, affecting 3-7% of school-age children in the US and imposing substantial economic burden. Stimulants are considered first-line pharmacological treatment and are the most...

Growing concern about the rapid emergence of penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae, as well as beta-lactamase-mediated resistance among Haemophilus influenzae and Moraxella catarrhalis, has lead to reconsideration of the management of acute otitis media in children. Acute otitis media is...

Parent training can be an effective strategy for assisting children and their families to cope with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), particularly when it is used as part of a multimodal approach in combination with stimulant medication. The benefits of parent training include:...

Until recently, control of influenza has focused on increasing the use of the inactivated influenza vaccine and, in some countries, encouraging the appropriate use of the antiviral drugs amantadine and rimantadine. Now that a new class of antiviral drugs, the neuraminidase inhibitors, has been...

Sickle cell disease (SCD), an inherited group of blood disorders, is a major public health problem worldwide. Patients experience severe anemia, increased risk of life-threatening infections, painful crisis, and chronic organ damage. Access to comprehensive care for SCD is known to improve...