DUMC Library: Evaluating an ECONOMIC ANALYSIS article
Validity issues | Types of cost analysis | Finding articles
Validity issues
Are the results valid?
- Did the analysis provide a full economic comparison of
health care strategies?
- Were the costs and outcomes properly measured and
valued?
- Was appropriate allowance made for uncertainties in
the analysis?
- Are estimates of costs and outcomes related to the
baseline risk in the treatment population?
What are the results?
- What were the incremental costs and outcomes of each
strategy?
- Do incremental costs and outcomes differ between
subgroups?
- How much does allowance for uncertainty change the
results?
Will the results help me in caring for my patient?
- Are the treatment benefits worth the harms and costs?
- Could my patients expect similar health outcomes?
- Could I expect similar costs?
Types of cost analysis
Economics is not just about money. It explores the balance between costs and consequences of
alternative actions.
A full economic comparison analyzes both the costs and consequences of 2 or more alternative
healthcare strategies.
There are 3 types:
- Cost-Benefit Analysis compares the strategies' costs with benefits expressed in
monetary units.
- Cost-Effectiveness Analysis compares the strategies' costs with their effects in
clinical units (e.g. cost per life years gained).
- Cost-Utility Analysis is a type of cost-effectiveness analysis in which outcomes are
measured in terms of social value (e.g. cost per quality-adjusted life years or QALY).
Direct Health Costs measure actual resources consumed to provide healthcare.
Indirect Health Costs measure resource implications of healthcare on other
activities (e.g. lost wages).
Discounting permits a comparison of future costs and consequences at today's value.
Finding articles about economic analysis
PubMed:
- search: cost and cost analysis (MeSH)
- search: cost* or economic
Ovid:
- search: economic analysis.tw.
- search: cost and cost analysis/ (MeSH)
References:
From: Guyatt, G. Users' Guides to the Medical Literature: Essentials of Evidence-based Clinical Practice.
AMA Press, 2002 and Sackett, D.L. Evidence-Based Medicine. How to Practice and Teach EBM. Churchill-Livingstone,
2nd edition, 2001 (pocket cards).
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Last modified on: 16-Dec-04