The incidence of fungal nail infections is increasing and this is possibly because of several factors: better methods of detection, a growing population of immunocompromised patients who have a greater susceptibility to such infections, the increased use of immunosuppressive drugs, the...

Influenza infection has been a burden to humans for thousands of years. Despite the fact that epidemics could be predicted with regularity, the lack of available prevention or treatment measures left humankind vulnerable to the harmful effects of this ubiquitous virus. While the pandemics of...

Objective: To determine whether the use of risperidone in a US managed-care environment is associated with a reduction in the use of mental healthcare services. Methods: Mental health service use and costs for patients with psychoses treated with risperidone versus those treated with...

Objective: To compare clinical and economic study data for docetaxel, paclitaxel and vinorelbine in the treatment of anthracycline-resistant advanced breast cancer. Study design and methods: A Markov decision-analysis model to simulate the clinical course of a `typical' patient with advanced...

Alzheimer's disease is one of several diseases of the elderly that has recently come into prominence for a number of reasons. First, its prevalence is set to increase as a result of the aging of Western populations. Secondly, the use of institutional care has fallen as a result of major policy...

A number of first-line chemotherapy options for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are advocated in treatment guidelines and/or by various clinical investigators. Platinum-based chemotherapy has clearly demonstrated efficacy in patients with advanced NSCLC and is generally...

The effectiveness of drug treatment in clinical practice is considerably lower than the efficacy shown in controlled studies. The lower effectiveness in practice presumably leads to lower cost effectiveness of drug treatment in real-life situations compared with that demonstrated by studies...

Objective: To estimate the benefits of reduced cocaine consumption in terms of reduced societal costs resulting from the introduction of a medication for cocaine dependence with a small incremental treatment effect. Study design: Cost-benefit analysis is applied to study the implications of...

Efavirenz is a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) used in the treatment of patients with HIV infection. Both US and British treatment guidelines for HIV infection recommend NNRTI- or protease inhibitor-based combinations [i.e. with nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors...