The purpose of this article is to review the data from pharmacotherapeutic and surgical intervention studies for the management of obesity. Clinical outcomes assessed include weight changes over time and the effects of weight loss on blood pressure, serum lipid profiles and blood glucose...

Improvements in organ preservation methods, immunosuppressive regimens and general post-transplant care have resulted in an increased life expectancy and a continually decreasing morbidity after solid organ transplantation. As attention gradually moves towards improving subjective patient...

_ Donepezil is a specific acetylcholinesterase inhibitor that can improve symptoms in patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease; cognitive function is maintained above baseline levels for up to 1 year and normal decline of cognitive function is slowed. The ability of the patient to...

The primary purpose of pharmacoeconomic research is to assist in making healthcare decisions. Rapid growth in the supply of pharmacoeconomic data over the past few years suggests that pharmacoeconomics can be of help in delivering good, cost-effective healthcare. Greater challenges in...

The purpose of this article was to provide an overview of the morbidity and mortality of prostate cancer, QOL issues and the economic impact of the disease. We searched Medline (from 1990 onwards) for all studies dealing with prostate cancer epidemiology, treatment, screening and staging, and...

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare, from the payor perspective, the clinical and economic outcomes of olanzapine to those of haloperidol for the treatment of schizophrenia. Design and setting: Clinical, quality-of-life and resource utilisation data were prospectively collected...

There are now a large number of instruments available for assessing health-related quality of life, many of which are used within economic evaluations. When considering the use of quality-of-life instruments, meaningful questions need to be asked to determine whether an instrument has been used...

Cancer is one of the most frequent disease-specific applications of the EQ-5D. The objective of this review was to summarise evidence to support the validity and reliability of the EQ-5D in cancer, and to provide a catalogue of utility scores based on the use of the EQ-5D in clinical trials and...

There are numerous methods available for assessing patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) or other forms of dementia. Quality-of-life (QOL) assessment is unique among these methods, because the QOL concept itself includes a subjective component that is fundamental to its measurement. It could be...

Objective: This study investigated the feasibility and usefulness of linking algorithms for well known quality-of-life (QOL) indicators to large nationally representative databases. Design and Setting: The National Medical Expenditure Survey (NMES) was utilised. We developed an algorithm to...