As the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) moves towards earlier and more consistently maintained therapy, often with highly toxic medications, the importance of assessing patients' health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) is of increasing concern to healthcare providers, insurers and...

Short term health effects can significantly impact health-related quality of life (HR-QOL). Appropriate healthcare priorities can be set only if they are based on health status measurements which are consistent with how people value both short and long term health effects. This article discusses...

This 9-month pragmatic study compared 2 therapeutic regimens in the management of osteoarthritis of the hip and knee. Patients received either diacerein 100 mg/day plus standard osteoarthritic therapy for 6 months, followed by a 3-month monitoring period without diacerein, or standard therapy...

Objective: The purpose of our study was to analyse and evaluate the costs of continuous intrathecal baclofen administration as a modality in the treatment of severe spasticity in the Netherlands. Design: A cost analysis was conducted as part of a prospective, multicentre, multidisciplinary,...

Whereas individual cost-effectiveness analyses of new agents for acute leukaemia should be performed in target populations, any meaningful pharmacoeconomic evaluation of treatment options for this condition should include the many types of costs and outcomes in unselected, representative groups...

Objective: Previous studies have demonstrated the effect of incontinence, and urge incontinence in particular, on patients' quality of life. This study assessed the effects of urge incontinence on quality of life and measured the value of a reduction in symptoms. Design: A self-administered...

The availability of new atypical antipsychotics, such as risperidone, that have higher acquisition costs than conventional treatments has prompted pharmacoeconomic evaluation of their costs and benefits. Risperidone is reported to have superior efficacy to haloperidol and similar efficacy to...

Numerous studies have demonstrated that the therapeutic use of drugs results in adverse outcomes and contributes to high rates of morbidity and mortality. The causes of drug-related problems are multifactorial and their assessment has been based on factors such as inappropriate prescribing,...

Currently, health state values are usually obtained from members of the general public trying to imagine what the state would be like rather than by patients who are actually in the various states of health. Valuations of a health state by patients tend to vary from those of the general...

As the population of elderly people worldwide continues to grow, successful aging has risen to the top of the health policy agenda. The definition of successful aging includes the maintenance of physical and mental function, as well as continued social engagement. Given this definition,...