The factors that may lead to an impaired quality of life in congestive heart failure (CHF) are physical symptoms, psychological problems, treatment adverse effects and social limitation. There are now several general and disease-specific quality-of-life (QOL) questionnaires which have been used...

Background: In a recent clinical trial, dermatan sulfate was found to be more effective than unfractionated heparin (UFH), but equally well tolerated, for the prevention of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) after major surgery for cancer. Objective: To perform a cost-effectiveness analysis of dermatan...

The next century is likely to bring unforeseen genetic and biotechnological discoveries, with new benefits, risks and costs. This paper explores some of the problem areas that healthcare biotechnologies are likely to encounter. Biotechnological interventions may present particular difficulties...

Chickenpox infections are generally mild but due to their very high incidence among healthy children they give rise to considerable morbidity and occasional mortality. With the development of a varicella vaccine in the early 1970s and its progressive licensing in many countries, interest in the...

Objective: There are multiple reasons for missing data in observational studies; excluding patients with missing data can lead to significant bias. In this study, we evaluated several methods for assigning missing values to health service utilisation. Design and setting: Cancer of the Prostate...

Objective: To determine the cost of using systemic therapy to treat newly diagnosed cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis in persons with AIDS. Design: Incidence-based simulation model of CMV treatment from a government payer perspective. Setting: Swiss healthcare system. Patients and participants:...

Treatment of adult chickenpox with aciclovir is controversial because of the relatively high cost of medication and small proven benefits of therapy. A decision-tree model was used to estimate the cost effectiveness of aciclovir, from third-party payer and societal perspectives: the incremental...

Objective: To compare the costs of 2 atypical drug therapies (olanzapine and risperidone) with one another and with a conventional antipsychotic (haloperidol) in the treatment of schizophrenia. Design and setting: The analysis is based on a simulation model with parameter values taken mainly...