Journal of medical economics
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Comparative Study
Direct and indirect costs associated with Dupuytren's contracture.
To compare direct (medical and drug) and indirect (work loss) costs between privately insured US employees with Dupuytren's contracture (DC) and demographically matched controls without DC. ⋯ Employees with DC had substantially higher comorbidity rates, utilization, and direct and indirect costs compared with demographically matched controls.
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Review Comparative Study
The cost-effectiveness of pregabalin in the treatment of fibromyalgia: US perspective.
To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of pregabalin in the treatment of fibromyalgia in a US patient population. ⋯ This model found pregabalin to be cost-effective in treating patients with severe fibromyalgia.
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Using a United Kingdom (UK)-based National Health Services perspective for 2011 this study first estimated the cost-effectiveness and budget impact implications for lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r) vs atazanavir plus ritonavir (ATV+RTV) treatment of antiretroviral therapy (ART)-naïve patients and secondly examined the long-term health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) and economic implications for LPV/r vs ATV+RTV treatment of ART-experienced patients. ⋯ Based on 2011 costs of HIV in the UK and the published efficacy data from the CASTLE and BMS-045 studies, ATV+RTV-based regimens are not expected to be a cost-effective use of resources for ART-naïve patients similar to patients in the CASTLE study, nor for ART-experienced patients based on the only published comparison of ATV+RTV and LPV/r.
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Development and psychometric validation of the Diabetes Therapy-Related QOL (DTR-QOL) questionnaire.
We developed and evaluated the psychometric properties of the Diabetes Therapy-Related QOL (DTR-QOL) as a disease-specific, self-administered questionnaire to assess the influence of diabetes treatment on patient QOL, regardless of treatment method. ⋯ The DTR-QOL, with good reliability and validity, can assess the influence of diabetes treatment on patient QOL. The DTR-QOL can be used regardless of treatment method that patients receive, and this characteristic enables to detect a difference on patients QOL between treatment methods before and after a switch of treatment. Limitations of this study include representativeness of the patient sample. The relatively small number of patients with type 1 diabetes should be noted. Also, responsiveness of the DTR-QOL has not yet been examined.
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Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is now the third leading cause of death in the US and responsible for significant healthcare resource use. The purpose of this study was to examine the changes in COPD costs over 20 years and assess total direct cost trends over the last 10. ⋯ The prevalence of COPD among females as well as the mean cost per COPD patient has risen sharply over the last 20 years. Cost-shifting from acute services to preventive services may allow US payers and healthcare providers to improve care and better manage costs for patients with COPD. More attention on prevention, diagnosis, and management needs to be directed to women at risk of COPD.