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Abstract #21134 Published in IGR 10-2
An introduction to decision analysis in the economic evaluation of the prevention and treatment of vision-related diseases
Kymes SMOphthalmic Epidemiology 2008; 15: 76-83
Economic evaluation in the form of reports of cost-effectiveness of the treatment and prevention of disease has only recently found widespread application in the visual sciences. While economic evaluation takes a number of forms: cost-minimization analysis, cost-benefit analysis, and cost-effectiveness analysis - it is the latter that is seen most often in the evaluation of vision-related health programs. Cost-effectiveness analysis is in particular seen most commonly in its very particular form of cost-utility analysis. Decision analysis is the analytic method most commonly used to perform cost-effectiveness analysis. In decision analysis, the expected cost and effectiveness of a health program are estimated in a rigorous fashion. In this report, we take the reader through the process of decision analysis including building the tree; populating the model with parameters for risk, cost and benefit; estimating expected cost and benefit; and deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analysis. Examples employed include prominent studies of the cost-effectiveness of photodynamic therapy for treatment of neovascular macular degeneration and the treatment ocular hypertension to prevent glaucoma.
Dr. S.M. Kymes, Washington University School of Medicine, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Campus Box 8096, 660 South Euclid, St. Louis, MO 63110-1093, USA. kymes@vrcc.wustl.edu
Classification:
14 Costing studies; pharmacoeconomics
