Value in health : the journal of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research
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The Treatment Satisfaction with Medicines Questionnaire (SATMED-Q) has shown appropriate psychometric properties exploring patients' satisfaction with treatment. Responsiveness (sensitivity to change) and known-group validity, however, still remained unknown. Thus, the goal of this study was to explore such psychometric properties for the SATMED-Q. ⋯ The SATMED-Q was sensitive to changes in patients' satisfaction with treatment. In addition, patients' different heath statuses are correlated with different levels of satisfaction with treatment.
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Health promotion (HP) interventions have outcomes that go beyond health. Such broader nonhealth outcomes are usually neglected in economic evaluation studies. To allow for their consideration, insights are needed into the types of nonhealth outcomes that HP interventions produce and their relative importance compared with health outcomes. This study explored consumer preferences for health and nonhealth outcomes of HP in the context of lifestyle behavior change. ⋯ Health outcomes and nonhealth outcomes of lifestyle behavior change were both important to consumers in this study. Decision makers should respond to consumer preferences and consider nonhealth outcomes when deciding about HP interventions.
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To quantify the cost differences and predictors of lost productive time (LPT) in persons with chronic migraine (CM) and episodic migraine (EM). ⋯ LPT is more costly and increases more rapidly for those with CM than for those with EM as age increases.
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Over the past 50 years, health care has been making a growing contribution to population health in many countries. Yet its benefits are still denied to many people worldwide. This article describes how many countries, both developed and developing, have pursued the quest to achieve universal health care. ⋯ Throughout, the United States has been an exception. An analysis of progress toward universal health care, combining a review of existing theories and new empirical analysis, identifies five factors as important: the strength of organized labor and left-wing parties, adequate economic resources, absence of societal divisions, weakness of institutions that might oppose it (such as organized medicine), and windows of opportunity. Having noted the substantial benefits accruing from universal health care, the article concludes with an analysis of how universal health care is under threat in some European countries and a warning about the risks posed by current radical austerity policies.
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Comparative Study
Responsiveness of the EQ-5D health-related quality-of-life instrument in assessing low back pain.
To compare the responsiveness of the EuroQol five-dimensional questionnaire (EQ-5D) generic quality-of-life instrument with that of specific instruments-the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) and the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI)-in assessing low back pain. ⋯ The EQ-5D index is less responsive than instruments specific to pain measurement, although it is capable of indicating clinically important changes. The lower responsiveness arises from EQ-5D's more limited gradation of severity and its multidimensionality.