Value in health : the journal of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research
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Comparative Study
The cost-effectiveness of influenza vaccination for people aged 50 to 64 years: an international model.
Routine influenza vaccination is currently recommended in several countries for people aged more than 60 or 65 years or with high risk of complications. A lower age threshold of 50 years has been recommended in the United States since 1999. To help policymakers consider whether such a policy should be adopted more widely, we conducted an economic evaluation of lowering the age limit for routine influenza vaccination to 50 years in Brazil, France, Germany, and Italy. ⋯ Extending routine influenza vaccination to people more than 50 years of age is likely to be cost-effective in all four countries studied.
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Quality-controlled mammography screening programs (MSP) have led to a reduction in breast cancer mortality. The purpose of this economic analysis was to assess the cost-effectiveness of MSP compared with an established opportunistic screening strategy (OS) in Switzerland, to identify the major factors influencing the economic outcome. ⋯ This analysis, performed under conservative assumptions, supports that MSP in Switzerland enables a relevant reduction of breast cancer mortality, at moderate additional cost, compared with OS.
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Comparative Study
Too much ado about propensity score models? Comparing methods of propensity score matching.
A large number of possible techniques are available when conducting matching procedures, yet coherent guidelines for selecting the most appropriate application do not yet exist. In this article we evaluate several matching techniques and provide a suggested guideline for selecting the best technique. ⋯ Sensitivity analysis of the matching techniques is especially important because none of the proposed methods in the literature is a priori superior to the others. The suggested joint consideration of propensity score matching and multivariate analysis offers an approach to assessing the robustness of the estimates.
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To determine the health-care resource use and costs attributable to treating atrial fibrillation (AF) in the United States. ⋯ Treatment of AF represents a significant health-care burden with the costs of treating AF in the inpatient setting outweighing the costs of treating AF in the office, emergency room or hospital outpatient settings. Further research is needed to fully capture the costs of treating AF.