Expert review of pharmacoeconomics & outcomes research
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Expert Rev Pharmacoecon Outcomes Res · Feb 2013
Multicenter StudyMedical resource use, disturbance of daily life and burden of hypoglycemia in insulin-treated patients with diabetes: results from a European online survey.
Hypoglycemia is common in patients with diabetes, and any severe hypoglycemic event can increase the fear of future hypoglycemic events. To try to reduce hypoglycemic events, many patients with diabetes maintain their blood glucose levels with a 'safety margin' (i.e., at higher than recommended values) and maintain hyperglycemia. Following this strategy leads to raised glycated hemoglobin levels, which are, consequently, linked to an increased risk of diabetic complications and increased healthcare costs. ⋯ In addition, 10% of the patients reported that they had taken days off work because of hypoglycemia during the previous 12 months. Furthermore, 80% of diabetics in the three countries said they would value a meter that tells them when their blood glucose level is getting high/low at a particular time of the day. Thus, the survey outlines the potential scale, in a real-world setting, of 'hidden' costs associated with hypoglycemia and fear of hypoglycemia; such costs are likely to have a major detrimental impact on the overall emotional and economic burden of diabetes, which may be reduced through broader use of blood-glucose monitors for self-monitoring of blood glucose.
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Expert Rev Pharmacoecon Outcomes Res · Feb 2013
ReviewDemand-side policies to encourage the use of generic medicines: an overview.
Demand-side policies to encourage the use of generic medicines are important to increase their use. A plethora of different demand-side policies has already been initiated by European governments, thereby targeting physicians, pharmacists and patients. ⋯ Positive knowledge and perceptions of physicians, pharmacists and patients of generic medicines are necessary prerequisites to increase the use of generic medicines and governments should initiate policies to achieve this. These policies should be combined with policies to increase their financial responsibility to the healthcare system and policies to facilitate the prescribing of generic medicines.
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Expert Rev Pharmacoecon Outcomes Res · Feb 2013
ReviewHeadache in the world: public health and research priorities.
Headache disorders are ubiquitous, prevalent and disabling, yet under-recognized, underdiagnosed and undertreated everywhere. A recent WHO survey of headache disorders "illuminates the worldwide neglect of a major public health problem, and reveals the inadequacies of responses to it in countries throughout the world." In this depressing context, the most profitable future for headache research - in the sense of maximizing benefit to people with headache - lies in health services research. This, backed by health economic studies, is likely to show that reallocation of resources towards better healthcare delivery, more effectively using treatments already available, has greater potential to benefit than the search for new drugs. In a world in which the lives of most people with headache are untouched by treatment developments of the last 20 years, there is far greater utility gain from finding ways to reach them than from striving to do a little better in the relatively well-served small minority.
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Expert Rev Pharmacoecon Outcomes Res · Feb 2013
The potential influence of various initiatives to improve rational prescribing for proton pump inhibitors and statins in Belgium.
Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) and statins have been among the top three most prescribed medicines in Belgium for more than a decade. Multiple demand-side measures have been introduced to improve rational prescribing generally, as well as for these two classes. ⋯ Multiple reforms influenced utilization patterns and expenditure for the PPIs and statins, as well as the pack sizes dispensed. Additional demand-side measures are needed to further enhance rational prescribing, which can build on the experiences in other countries. These can be potentially transferred to other classes.
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Expert Rev Pharmacoecon Outcomes Res · Feb 2013
Moving the boundaries of international collaboration on clinical trials and QoL: experiences in oncology and legislation within the European Parliament.
The European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer undertook another successful event with their third annual conference addressing quality of life matters in cancer clinical trials. More than 40 presentations were made over a 3-day period hosted at the European Parliament on 17-20 October 2012, in Brussels. The conference managed to get speakers and policy makers together to debate all the key issues in cancer clinical trials, design and reporting, including future policy and regulatory concerns. This meeting set the stage for future research and policy meetings to give greater visibility to quality of life as an outcome in clinical trials within the world of EU legislators.