Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the airways. The worldwide prevalence of asthma has increased in recent decades. There is an approximately 20-fold variation (range 1.6% to 36.8%) in the prevalence of childhood asthma throughout the world. The highest prevalence rates are in the UK,...

The financial burden of migraine on society comprises direct costs, associated with medical care, and indirect costs, caused by absence from work and reduced productivity. Recent studies have revealed that direct costs are generally relatively low in Europe, but are much higher in North America,...

Background: While there is some literature on the cost of specific respiratory infections, much of the existing research focuses only on direct medical treatment costs and does not take into consideration workplace burden due to disability and absenteeism. Objective: To evaluate the impact of...

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine the cost effectiveness of fluvoxamine compared with tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) in the treatment of patients with depressive episodes. Design and Setting: A Markov process model was constructed to model the effectiveness, as measured by...

The diffusion of protease inhibitors and non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors in the US in 1996 and 1997 reduced the number of deaths attributable to HIV disease and changed the way we think about the illness. Today, HIV disease may be deemed a fairly expensive chronic condition...

Background: The use of expert opinion is widespread in economic studies of healthcare utilisation; however, few studies have attempted to assess the validity of assumptions derived from such sources. Objective: To examine the use of such expert opinion in determining comorbidities associated...

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is an infection anywhere in the urinary tract, most commonly due to bacteria. If infection involves the kidney, the UTI is termed acute pyelonephritis (APN). An estimated 10-30% of all patients with APN are hospitalised for treatment; in the US, the incidence of...

Constipation is a prevalent condition that disproportionately affects women and older adults and leads to self-medication and/or medical consultation. It occurs as a result of functional idiopathic causes or secondarily as a result of a variety of factors including dietary and exercise patterns,...

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection affects 170 million individuals worldwide. As it is detected incidentally through the evaluation of liver function tests or at the time of blood donor testing, it is usually clinically silent until the advanced stages of liver disease have occurred, when...

The introduction of expensive disease-modifying agents for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) has created the potential for patients with MS to become higher contributors to healthcare spending. In an attempt to make formulary and reimbursement choices for these agents, decision-makers may...