Published: 03-06-2019

The heoro.com database is updated daily from a systematic search of PubMed for studies relevant to health economics and outcomes research.

In this blog we summarise some of the most important and interesting studies added throughout the month of June 2019.

Studies reporting utilities

•  The minimum clinically important difference in SF-36 MCS and PCS scores is 4 points in patients undergoing surgery for degenerative cervical myelopathy in Canada. Badhiwala 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• Mean time trade-off utilities in metastatic hormone resistant prostate cancer in the UK were 0.71 for men receiving androgen deprivation therapy, 0.64 for  docetaxel plus ADT and 0.68 for ongoing ADT after docetaxel with progression-free disease. Hall 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• The EQ-5D-5L was compared with the PEmb-QoL, VEINES-QOL/Sym and PACT-Q2 in patients with deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Chuang 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• Older adults give lower TTO EQ-5D values to health profiles than younger adults, especially for mobility problems. Cubi-Molla 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• The MOS-HIV instrument has been mapped to the EQ-5D-3L in people with HIV infections in Singapore. Shi 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• SF-36 utility values were correlated with symptom scores after vaccination with H5N1 influenza vaccine. Standaert 2019 Go to paper on PubMed 
• Mean EQ-5D values were 0.6456 in patients with a history of hypertension in Pakistan. Amer 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• The HUI3 and SF-6D were found to be more suitable than the EQ-5D as a utility measure in people in Singapore with schizophrenia or depression. Abdin 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• Australian utility weights were determined for the EORTC QLU-C10D multi-attribute utility instrument derived from the EORTC QLQ-C30. King 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• A preference-based measure of self-management in diabetes, derived from the UK general population, was validated as a utility measure. Rowen 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• EQ-5D values deteriorated less with apalutamide than placebo in men with castration-resistant prostate cancer taking androgen deprivation therapy. Saad 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• EQ-5D and SF-6D values mapped from SF-12 lead to lower QALYs and higher ICERs than observed EQ-5D in patients undergoing haemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis. Yang 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• SF-36 physical component scores were significantly improved after 6 months of Tai Chi compared with standard care in women with postmenopausal osteoporosis in Italy. Ferrara 2019 Go to paper on PubMed 
• Automated symptom and treatment side effect monitoring did not improve EQ-5D values compared with usual care in US adults with diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Adams 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• 24% of older people receiving home care in Norway had diabetes; EQ-5D, WHO-5 and WHOQOL-BREF scores were worse in the 14% with undiagnosed diabetes than other diabetes groups. Davies 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• The minimal important difference in the SF-36 in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in Germany was 5 for PCS and 6 for MCS. Witt 2019 Go to paper on PubMed

Studies validating a PRO instrument

• The Patient Benefit Index was validated in patients with skin diseases in Germany. Topp 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• The Australian pelvic floor questionnaire  was validated against the Pelvic organ Prolapse Quantification System (POP-Q) and the Urinary Distress Inventory (UDI) in women with pelvic floor dysfunction in Turkey. Sariibrahim Astepe 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• The Stroke specific quality of life (SSQOL) was validated against the SF-36, NIH Stroke Scale and BDI in people after mild to moderate stroke in Saudi Arabia. Sallam 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• A modified WHOQOL-BREF was validated as a measure of quality of life in rural Bangladesh. Uddin 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• The Clostridium difficile Infection-Daily Symptoms questionnaire (CDI-DaySyms) was validated in patients with C difficile infection in Sweden. Talbot 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• The Pediatric Quality of Life inventory was validated in children with Duchenne  muscular dystrophy in Thailand. Thongsing 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• The Adult Sickle Cell Quality of Life Measurement Information System (ASCQ-Me)  was validated against the SF-36 and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) in adults with sickle cell anaemia in the UK. Cooper 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) was validated against the EORTC QLQ-C30 and Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI-18) in patients with cancer in Spain. Lorenzo-Seva 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• The QOL10 was validated as a measure of quality of life in people with substance abuse in Norway. Muller 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• The Inflammatory Bowel Disease Disability Index was validated against the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire-32 in patients with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis in Spain. Lopez-Cortes 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• The Disease Burden Morbidity Assessment was validated against the SF-36 in adults with chronic disease in Australia. Tyack 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• The PROMIS Depression scale was validated against the Beck Depression Inventory in heart failure in the USA. Freedland 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• The Quality of Life in Short Stature Youth (QoLISSY) questionnaire was validated against the KIDSCREEN in children in Greece.Drosatou 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• The Fatigue Severity Scale was validated against the HADS, Mini Mental State Examination and the SF-36 in people with stroke in Turkey. Ozyemisci-Taskiran 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• The Stroke and Aphasia Quality Of Life-scale (SAQOL-39)  was validated against the EQ-5D in people with stroke with or without aphasia in the Netherlands. Van Ewijk 2019 Go to paper on PubMed

Other PRO studies

• Pelvic floor muscle plus transversus abdominis exercises improved 12-week ICIQ-LUTS scores more than pelvic floor muscle exercises alone in women with stress incontinence in Poland. Ptak 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• A systematic review found that physical exercise can improve role activity limitation in people with HIV infection but does not otherwise affect quality of life. Ibeneme 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• Lower Fatigue Intensity Scale scores were predicted largely by lower age, higher physical activity level and socioeconomic status in people with HIV in France. Bergamaschi 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• Higher GAD-7 anxiety and PHQ-9 depression scores were associated with lower RS-14 resilience scores in people with HIV in the UK. McGowan 2018 Go to paper on PubMed 
• A systematic review concluded that body acupuncture therapy improves quality of life in people with COPD compared with medical therapy alone. Hsieh 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• Parents of children with asthma in Brazil have worse quality of life on the WHOQOL-BREF than control groups. Roncada 2018 Go to paper on PubMed

Studies reporting costs and resource use

• Use of an inflammatory bowel disease nurse specialist was associated with significantly lower hospitalisation rates amd physician resource use in Finland. Molander 2018 Go to paper on PubMed 
• Readmissions for any cause were most common after total knee arthroplasty in the UK in patients with psychosis, reoperations were most common with obesity. Ali 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• Hospitalisation rate was 152 to 335 per 100 children with congenital heart disease in the first year of life in Canada compared with 109/100 children without CHD; ambulatory care rate was 1416 to 4871/100 children in the first year compared with 246/100 with no CHD. Islam 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• There were more outpatient visits in the first year after STEMI (1.64/year) than NSTEMI (0.99/year) in Canada but shorter length of admission; costs of acute MI were $19,842 in the first year and $845 per year for the next 5 years. Tran 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• Annual costs of triplet therapy for previously treated multiple myeloma ranged from $13,890 for daratumumab plus bortezomib plus dexamethasone (DARA/BOR/DEX) to $27,432 for carfilzomib plus lenalidomide plus dexamethasone (CAR/LEN/DEX). Hollmann 2019 Go to paper on PubMed 
• Adjusted costs of melanoma in Europe ranged from €14420 per patient in Bulgaria to €50,961 in Cyprus; crude national costs ranged from €1.1million in Iceland to €543.8 million in Germany. Krensel 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• The median cost of managing acute meningococcal meningitis in children in Italy was €12,604 to €16,750. Bozzola 2019 Go to paper on PubMed

Economic evaluations

• Adding bevacizumab to paclitaxel may be cost-effective first-line therapy in HER-2-negative metastatic breast cancer in France, with an ICER of €56,721/QALY gained compared with paclitaxel alone. Petitjean 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• Mandatory smoking cessation interventions before total joint arthroplasty can be cost-saving in the USA, mean 90-day costs $23 less than with no intervention. Boylan 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• Rotavirus vaccination could prevent 3061 deaths per year in Pakistan at an estimated $279/DALY averted. Rheingans 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• A systematic review found that most policy and behavioural interventions to reduce child and adolescent obesity were cost-effective. Zanganeh 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• Internet-guided cognitive behavioural therapy is cost-effective in Canada for mild to moderate depression (ICER $31,575/QALY compared with usual care) and anxiety (ICER $26,719/QALY versus usual care, $43,214 versus unguided internet CBT). Health Quality Ontario 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• Maintenance rituximab is cost-effective compared with azathioprine in antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis in France, with an ICER of €37,782/QALY and €13,824/relapse averted. Montante 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• Increasing the proportion of patients with hepatitis C who receive antiviral therapy and treating all fibrosis stages would be cost-effective over 15 years in Switzerland, with an ICER of CHF 2200/QALY, and cost-saving at an annual cost below CHF 27,900/patient. Blach 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• A systematic review concluded that bosentan was cost-effective in pulmonary arterial hypertension compared with epoprostenol but not compared with sildenafil or endothelin receptor antagonists such as ambrisentan. You 2018 Go to paper on PubMed

Studies reporting mortality rates or trends

• 28-day mortality was best predicted by change in  Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (Δ SOFA) score in patients with sepsis-associated disseminated intravascular coagulation in Japan. Iba 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• Mortality rates in boys born before 30 weeks' gestation declined faster than in girls in the USA between 2006 and 2016. Boghossian 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• A man aged 60 years with non-traumatic spinal cord injury in Switzerland has a mean 1.7 years of life remaining if the aetiology is malignant and 10.1 years for non-malignant aetiologies. Buzzell 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• In older adults who survived acute MI or ischaemic stroke in Canada in 2012, 7% had a recurrent event in the following year, 32% died. Li 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• Survival to hospital discharge was 14.3% in children with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Turkey in 2008 to 2012; 58% of survivors had neurological disability. Kurt 2019 Go to paper on PubMed
• Mortality in 12 months after myocardial infarction in the Netherlands was 12%; mortality higher and PCI rates lower in NSTEMI patients admitted during weekend than weekday; PCI rates higher at weekends for STEMI and mortality same as weekday admission. Eindhoven 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• Quality of life, measured with the FACT-Hep questionnaire, increases the accuracy of mortality prediction when added to ECOG performance status in hepatocellular carcinoma in Switzerland. Gmur 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• 180-day mortality was 15.5% in people aged 75 years and older admitted to short-stay units in Spain in 2014; 5% mortality in low-risk, 18% in moderate risk and 54% in high-risk adults.Martin-Sanchez 2018 Go to paper on PubMed