Published: 01-05-2018

We add new abstracts to the heoro.com database every day, using our systematic search of PubMed for papers relevant to health economics and outcomes research.

In this blog we summarise some of the key papers added during May 2018.

Papers reporting utilities

• SF-12 values were similar in patients with different types of intraductal papillary mucinous carcinomas of the pancreas, measured at 1 and 2 years in Italy. Pezzilli 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Patients on haemodialysis in the USA who had abnormal thyroid function had impaired SF-36 values, but Beck depression Inventory scores were no worse than those with normal thyroid function. Rhee 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• EQ-5D values were 46% lower and EQ-VAS scores were 38% lower in UK patients with Clostridium difficile infections compared with matched controls; median costs were £6294 for a first episode and £7539 for a recurrent episode. Wilcox 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• The EQ-5D and 15-D were both valid but the 15-D was more sensitive in patients with chronic pain in Finland. Vartiainen 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• SF-12 mental and physical quality of life values were significantly lower in adults from Hong Kong who had <50% of median monthly income compared with higher-income families, after adjusting for sociodemographic and comorbidity factors. Lam 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Impaired bladder emptying led to worse SF-36 values in patients with spinal cord injury in Iran, and QOL was worse in those with indwelling than intermittent catheterisation. Yasami 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• A pruritus VAS was mapped to the EQ-5D-3L in Korean patients with pruritus. Park 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Quality of life, measured with the EQ-5D, EQ-VAS. WHO-5, St George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) and the UCSD Shortness-of-Breath Questionnaire, was impaired in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in Germany. Kreuter 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• A systematic review concluded that the EQ-5D was the most valid utility-based instrument for people with dementia. Li 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• EQ-5D values were impaired by a mean 0.075 in cancer patients with a venous thromboembolism in Canada; haemorrhage had a nonsignificant impairment on utility values. Lloyd 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• The SF-12 was validated in patients with diabetes mellitus in the USA; mean normalised MCS scores were 49.82 and PCS scores were 40.81 compared with 50 in the general population. Kathe 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• Improvement in EQ-5D and EQ-VAS were similar in patients under 65, 65-74 and 75+ years having PCI in China; Minimally important benefit was seen at 36 months in 61-66%. Yan 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• Patients who received direct oral anticoagulants reported greater satisfaction and quality of life on the EQ-5D than those receiving vitamin K antagonists for non-valvular atrial fibrillation in Spain. Contreras Muruaga 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• SF-36 values and Obesity Problems scale scores were not significantly different in obese patients undergoing gastric bypass surgery with versus without mesenteric defect closure in Sweden. Stenberg 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• SF-36 values were higher in men newly diagnosed with prostate cancer and their spouses in Finland than in the general population. Harju 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

Papers validating a PRO instrument

• The Family Dermatology Life Quality Index was validated in Japanese family members of patients with skin diseases. Higaki 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• The Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire was validated against 5 other PRO tools including the WHOQOL-BREF, PHQ-9 and Diabetes Distress Scale  in patients with type 2 diabetes in Malaysia. Chew 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• The Stroke Impact Scale-16 correlated better with modified Rankin scale in US patients after ischaemic stroke than did the EQ-5D, PHQ-9 or PROMIS-physical function. Katzan 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire was validated in Portuguese women with cancer. Brandao 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• The Western Ontario Shoulder Instability Index (WOSI) was validated against the Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS) and the Oxford Shoulder Score (OSS) in Danish adults. Eshoj 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• The Ankylosing Spondylitis quality of life (ASQoL) scale was validated against the SF-36, HAQ and Bath indices in patients with ankylosing spondylitis in Singapore. Leung 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• The Social Anxiety/Avoidance Scale was validated against the Relationship Questionnaire (RQ) and Experiences in Close Relationships Questionnaire-Revised (ECR-R) in US patients with social anxiety. Katz 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• The InFLUenza Patient-Reported Outcome (FLU-PRO) was validated dagainst the Patient Global Rating of Flu Severity in patients in the UK, US, Mexico and South America. Powers 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• The IBD Self-efficacy Scale for Adolescents and Young Adults (IBDSES-A) was validated in US participants aged 12-25 years with inflammatory bowel disease. Izaguirre 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• A systematic review found that the Quality of Life Index and Qualiveen were the only validated tools that showed sensitivity to neurogenic bladder problems after spinal cord injury. Best 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• The Prostate Cancer Symptom Scale (PCSS) was validated in patients with prostate cancer in the USA. Msaouel 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• The Patient Reported Outcome Measurement Information System Depression (PROMIS-D) was validated against the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CESD-20), and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) in US patients with multiple sclerosis. Kim 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• The Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System upper extremity item bank (PROMIS UE) was validated against the Western Ontario Rotator Cuff Index (WORC), American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons Shoulder Assessment Form, SF-36 and EQ-5D in US patients with rotator cuff disorders. Anthony 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• The Illness Perception Questionnaire-Revised (IPQ-R) was validated in women with stress urinary incontinence or leiomyoma in China. Fan 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• The CDI-DaySyms was validated for use in patients wtih Clostridium difficile infection in the USA. Kleinman 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• The Stigma Resistance Scale was validated in US patients with mental disorders to assess resistance to stigma of mental illness. Firmin 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• The EMpowerment of PArents in The Intensive Care-30-AUS Questionnaire was validated in parents of children in general wards or intensive care units in Australia. Gill 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

 Other PRO studies

•  Patients with high COPD symptomatology on the modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) Dyspnea scale and the COPD Assessment Test (CAT) had higher COPD-related healthcare costs and resource use than those with low symptomatology, in the USA. Stephenson 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Patients with psoriasis in Turkey experience high levels of internalised stigma, measured on the Psoriasis Internalized Stigma Scale (PISS). Alpsoy 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Quality of life on the DEMQOL improved by a mean 3.4 points and DEMQOL-Proxy scores in caregivers improved 1.3 points in the 6 months after referral to memory assessment services in the UK. Park 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Exercise therapy did not improve fatigue or quality of life, measured on the FACT-Fatigue, in Australian patients with advanced lung cancer over 2-6 months. Dhillon 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Quality of life, on the Assessment of Quality of Life and Related Events Questionnaire (Aquarel), was higher in patients with remote compared with standard outpatient follow-up after pacemaker insertion in Italy. Comoretto 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• A mobile phone-delivered CBT course did not improve PedsQL quality of life or CDRS depression scores in adolescents in New Zealand compared with a control intervention. Whittaker 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• An iPad app added to behavioural interventions did not improve the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist scores after 6 months compared with usual care in children with autism spectrum disorder in Australia; adherence was low. Whitehouse 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting and Functional Living Index- Emesis (FLIE) scores were better in patients having chemotherapy who received ginger extract than placebo in Australia. Marx 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

Papers reporting costs and resource use

• Unplanned cardiac rehospitalisations within 1 year occurred in 12% of patients having PCI after STEMI as part of an RCT and 7% had unplanned non-cardiac admissions, mainly for bleeding. Spitzer 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Costs of inpatient care for multiple sclerosis in the USA increased by $8million per year and admissions increased by half a million per year between 1994-2013. Chen 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• A systematic review found the mean weighted annual cost per person with osteoarthritis of the hip or knee was €11,100 in total, €9,500 direct costs and €4,400 indirect costs. Salmon 2016 Go to paper on PubMed
• 17.7% of people with diabetes in Spain had a hyperglycaemic crisis in 2012, with a mean cost per person of €1477. Barranco 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Salbutamol and budesonide were the most widely used drugs in patients managed at a government hospital for asthma in Saudi Arabia; 77% of prescriptions were appropriate.  Rafeeq 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• In US women aged under 45 years, 12.3% of breast cancer cases were estimated to be due to alcohol consumption, at an estimated annual medical care cost of $148.4million.  Ekwueme 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Interventions that could reduce sugar consumption by 20% in the USA would reduce incidence of type 2 diabetes by 19.9 and coronary heart disease by 9.4/100,000 population after 20 years, with savings of $10.3billion by 2015 and 0.767million DALYs averted. Vreman 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• A systematic review found that costs of cardiac rehabilitation in high-income countries ranged from US$294 in the UK to $12,409 in Italy, and in middle-income countries ranged from US$146 in Venezuela to $1095 in Brazil. Moghei 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Women were more likely to be prescribed clopidogrel than newer antiplatelet drugs after acute coronary syndrome in Greece, but ischaemic events were not significantly different between genders. Xanthopoulou 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• A systematic review found that the mean direct costs of managing a case of active tuberculosis in the USA in 2015 was $34,600, and the cost of multidrug resistant TB was $110,900 per case.  Oh 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• A systematic review found that direct costs of managing patients with TB and HIV infection were $454 to $814 more than TB alone. de Siqueira-Filha 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• Total costs of care of bacterial skin infections are higher with dalbavancin than usual care in the USA but similar to costs with daptomycin. Turco 2018 Go to paper on PubMed

Economic evaluations

• Using the NICE 2015 diagnostic criteria for gestational diabetes in higher risk women in the UK was cost-effective compared with using WHO 2013 criteria, with an ICER of £30,000/QALY gained. Not screening was most cost-effective in women with no risk factors. Jacklin 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Early total knee arthroplasty for osteoarthritis was unlikely to be cost-effective in adults in France, with an ICER of €43,631/QALY gained compared with late TKR. Mari 2016 Go to paper on PubMed
• Low-intensity lifestyle programmes are cost-effective compared with no intervention in patients with type 2 diabetes in the UK, with ICERs of £44 to 195/QALY gained; higher intensity programmes are also cost-effective with ICERs of £2775 - 7376/QALY. Roberts 2018 Go to paper on  PubMed
• Screening for colorectal cancer with biennial immunochemical fecal occult blood testing has an ICER of NZ$2930/QALY gained, but is less cost-effective in Maori than non-Maori populations in New Zealand. McLeod 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• A systematic review found that self-monitoring of blood pressure is likely to be cost-effective, with ICERs ranging from cost-saving to $144,000 per QALY gained. Jacob 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Abatacept was cost-effective compared with adalimumab in patients with rheumatoid arthritis who have high ACPA levels in the UK, with ICERs of £6200 to £26,272/QALY. Alemao 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• Colonoscopy every 5 years from age 40 was the most cost-effective strategy of screening for colorectal cancer in patients with cystic fibrosis and no organ transplant in the USA; screening from age 30-35 years was optimal in patients who have had a transplant. Gini 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• Using netupitant+palonosetron (NEPA) is cost-effective for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in Italy compared with aprepitant+ palonosetron or fosaprepitant, and would save €63.7 million over 5 years. Restelli 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• A systematic review concluded that screening young athletes for cardiovascular disease was not cost-effective compared with no screening. Gerkens 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Macrolides are less expensive than cephalosporins for upper respiratory infections and sinusitis in Slovakia unless community macrolide resistance rates exceed 13.8%. Babela 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Repairing partially defective composite or amalgam tooth restorations is cost-effective compared with replacement in Germany, with ICERs of €7.14 for composite and €235 for amalgam repairs. Kanzow 2016 Go to paper on PubMed
• Denosumab was cost-effective compared with zoledronic acid at preventing skeletal-related events in patients with cancer in the Czech Republic, with ICERs of 382,673 CZK/QALY gained  for prostate cancer, 408,450 CZK for breast cancer, and 608,133 CZK for other solid tumours.  Cristino 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Ceftolozane/tazobactam + metronidazole was cost-effective compared with piperacillin/tazobactam for complicated intra-abdominal infections in the UK, with an ICER of £4,350/QALY and 0.36 hospitalization days/patient saved. Prabhu 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Adding omalizumab to standard care is cost-effective compared with standard care alone in patients in Brazil with severe allergic asthma, with an ICER of R$53,890/QALY gained. Suzuki 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Rivaroxaban is cost-effective for secondary prevention of venous thromboembolism in the Netherlands, with greater QALYs and cost savings compared with low molecular weight heparin plus vitamin K antagonists. Heisen 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Adding palbociclib to letrozole in treatment-naive patients with HER2-positive breast cancer or to fulvestrant in those with prior endocrine therapy is not cost-effective in the USA, with ICERs of $768,498 and $918,166 per QALY gained respectively. Mamiya 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Subdermal implantable buprenorphine was cost-effective compared with sublingual buprenorphine in US adults with opiate use disorder from a societal perspective, with more QALYs and cost savings. Carter 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Providing take-home intramuscular naloxone to heroin users is cost-effective in the UK, preventing 2,500 overdose deaths per 200,000 users with an ICER of £899/QALY.  Langham 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• Hepatitis A vaccines for 1-year-old children in Jordan is highly cost-effective during the first 5 years and cost-saving over 50 years. Hayajneh 2018 Go to paper on PubMed 
• Second-line chemotherapy is cost-effective in elderly patients in China with advanced gastric cancer, with an ICER of $18224/QALY. Zhou 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Biologicals such as secukinumab are the most expensive treatments for psoriasis in Japan but are the most effective at improving skin lesions. Takahashi 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

 Studies reporting mortality

• Standardised mortality ratios remained high for 6-10 years after discharge in Australian adults with traumatic brain injury; receiving financial compensation may reduce mortality. Gates 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• 11% of patients having out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in a public place in Serbia survived compared with 58% in a medical institution; having a witness to the arrest, immediate CPR, and initial rhythm affected mortality risk. okši?-Mazinjanin 2016 Go to paper on PubMed
• An international study of acute respiratory distress syndrome found that length of artificial respiration and ICU stay were shorter and mortality rates were lower in high income than lower income countries. Laffey 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Mean 3-year survival in US patients aged 15 to 64 years with colon cancer in 2007-2012 was 57.0% for those with Medicaid insurance, 61.2% for those without insurance and 75.6% for those with other insurance. Pulte 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• The GRACE risk score was shown to be a valid predictor of in-hospital mortality in Canadian patients with acute coronary syndrome. Gong 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• 5.8% of patients receiving imatinib for CML developed a second malignancy after 74 months with 53% mortality; incidence is the same as the general population in Italy but standardised mortality ratio was 2.41. Gugliotta 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• All-cause mortality in China had an inverse relationship with BMI, with increased mortality in adults with a BMI <25 but a reduced mortality in those with a BMI of 25 to 34.9, after adjusting for smoking and chronic disease. Wang 2016 Go to paper on PubMed