Published: 03-09-2018

We search the PubMed database every day for new studies relevant to Health Economics and Outcomes Research, and index these within the heoro.com database. 

In this blog, we summarise some of the key papers added each day in September 2018. 

Studies reporting utility values

•  SF-36 values were significantly different in elderly patients with heart failure in Serbia compared with those in Germany, and their response to bisoprolol therapy also varied by location. Chavanon 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• Utility values on EQ-5D-5L and ICECAP-A scores were estimated by mapping from the CORE-OM, the LDQ and the TOP measures in opiate dependent adults in the UK. Peak 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• The Minimum Data Set Health Status Index (MDS-HSI) was validated as a longitudinal preference measure in people receiving home care in Canada. Jones 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• SF-6D utility values were lower for 12+ months in people with complications after tibial fracture than those without complications or the general population of the USA. Gitajn 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• Low SF-36 scores predicted all-cause hospitalisation in US adults with HIV infection, HR for admission was 2.12 for people in the lowest PCS score tertile compared with those in the highest, and 1.33 for those in the lowest MCS tertile compared with the highest.  Emuren 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• The EQ-5D showed marked ceiling effects in patients with breast cancer in Finland, the 15-D showed better discriminatory power and content validity. Rautalin 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• SF-36 values were higher after radiofrequency ablation of small hepatocellular carcinomas in China than after resection or liver transplant, with similar 3-year recurrence rates. He 2018 Go to paper on PubMed

Studies validating a PRO instrument

• The Primary Care Outcomes Questionnaire (PCOQ) was validated against cognitive interviews in UK primary care patients. Murphy 2018 Go to paper on PubMed 
• The Brief Developmental Assessment was validated against the Mullen Scales of Early Learning in UK children with congenital heart disorders. Brown 218 Go to paper on PubMed
• A Spanish version of the Saint George's Respiratory Questionnaire was validated in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in Argentina. Capparelli 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• The minimum clinically important difference in the Scoliosis Research Society-22r (SRS-22r) scores were 0.58 for Function, 0.55 for Pain, and 0.70 for Mental health domains in Japanese adults undergoing surgery for spinal deformity; MCIDs were lower in patients >70 years compared with younger adults. Arima 2018 Go to paper on PubMed 
• The Patient-Reported Outcome Measure, Inquiry into Side Effects (PROMISE) instrument was validated as a measure of common medication adverse events in the Netherlands. Schoenmakers 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• The EUROHIS-QOL 8-item index (WHOQOL-8) was validated against the WHOQOL-Bref in Brazilian patients and healthy controls. Pires 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• A systematic review identified 24 PRO tools used in patients with sickle-cell disease in the USA; only 8 were developed specifically for SCD and details on validation and reliability were sparse. Sarri 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• The Child Perceptions Questionnaire CPQ was validated in children aged 8 to 10 years in France with oral-facial clefts, dental disease and healthy children. Boy-Lefevre 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• The MenoScores questionnaire was validated as a measure of bothersome menopausal symptoms in women in Denmark. Lund 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• The I COPPE (Overall, Interpersonal, Community, Occupation, Psychological, Physical, and Economic well-being) scale was validated as a measure of well-being in Italian adults. Di Martino 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• New modules of the EORTC QLQ-C30 were validated in Hodgkin's disease (EORTC QLQ-HL27),  high-grade and low-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (EORTC QLQ-NHL-HG29, EORTC QLQ-NHL-LG20) and chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (EORTC QLQ-CLL17) in European patients. van de Poll-Franse 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• Harvey-Bradshaw Index scores for abdominal symptoms were negatively correlated with small bowel motility on MRI scan in people with Crohn's disease in the UK. Gollifer 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• The EORTC QLQ-BN20 was validated against the EORTC QLQ-C30 in patients with brain cancer in China. Zhang 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• The SF-36 was compared with the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy - Anemia (FACT-An) in patients with anaemia due to chronic kidney disease in the USA. Finkelstein 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• The Cirrhosis-associated ascites symptom scale (CAS) was validated against the chronic liver disease questionnaire (CLDQ) and the EQ-5D in patients who had cirrhosis with and without ascites in Denmark. Riedel 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• The Juvenile Arthritis Multidimensional Assessment Report (JAMAR) was validated in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis in the UK and 47 other languages. Martin 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• The Jenkins Sleep Scale was validated against the Psoriatic Arthritis Quality of Life (PsAQoL), Multidimensional Assessment of Fatigue (MAF) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) in patients with psoriatic arthritis in Turkey. Duruoz 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• The Arabic Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Quality of Life questionnaire was validated against the SF-36 in patients with SLE in Egypt. Aziz 2018 Go to paper on PubMed

Other PRO studies

•  A systematic review concluded that nurse-led care did not change quality of life on the EORTC QLQ-C30 but did reduce constipation, insomnia and financial difficulties in patients with cancer compared with usual care. Cheng 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• HADS anxiety-depression score was the main predictor of quality of life in patients after reconstructive surgery for oropharyngeal cancer in France; 52% of those working before diagnosis had returned to work 1+ yr later. Bozec 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• Pelvic floor symptoms, anxiety, depression, activity levels and quality of life remained impaired 6 months after surgery for stage I - III colorectal cancer in Australia. Lin 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• Quality of life and burden in caregivers of people with Parkinson's disease in Italy is affected more by sleep quality, depression and quality of life in the patient than by their motor impairment.  Bartolomei 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• Frail recipients of kidney transplant have worse Kidney Disease Quality of Life Instrument Short Form scores initially, but show greater improvement after transplantation in physical and kidney disease-specific quality of life than non-frail patients in the USA. McAdams-DeMarco 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• 77% of patients with severe COPD in Norway reported pain in the past 12 months on the Brief Pain Inventory; risk was higher in females and those with higher BMI, more comorbidity and less education. Bentsen 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• Quality of life was significantly higher in the heads of families with community-based health insurance in Ethiopia than those without such insurance, WHOQOL-BREF scores were 63.02 with vs 58.92 without insurance. Gebru 2018 Go to paper on PubMed

Studies reporting costs and resource use

• Mean medical costs of liver cancer in China increased from 21,950 Yuan in 2002 to 40,386 Yuan in 2011; 48 to 53% due to pharmaceutical costs, 1% nursing fees. Qiu 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• Total healthcare costs are 16% higher in US patients with type 2 diabetes who have cardiovascular disease compared with those with no CVD, amounting to $200 extra per patient per month. Mehta 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• Time to diagnosis was longer but costs of diagnosis were €2631 less per patient diagnosed with lymphoma in Spain as an outpatient compared with inpatient assessment. Bosch 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• Epoetin alfa leads to healthcare savings of €11 per patient per month, darboepoetin alfa €30 /pt/month in preventing anaemia in patients receiving dialysis with Estorclean filter in Italy. Di lorio 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• Implementing a quality assurance process reduced unnecessary genetic tests for hereditary cancer, saving $5.8million per year in one laboratory in the USA. Smith 2017 Go to paper on PubMed
• 66% of patients taking targeted therapy for rheumatoid arthritis in the USA were nonresponders, with higher direct and indirect costs and resource use compared with responders. Strand 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• Inappropriate prescribing rates in elderly patients were 8.7% in Ireland, 16.7% Switzerland, 12.5% Netherlands; prescribing omissions occurred in 25% of patients in Switzerland, 24% Netherlands, 14% Ireland. O Riordan 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• A systematic review found that the costs of diabetic foot in EU5 countries in 2016$ was up to $83,728 for direct costs and $1442 indirect costs of amputation, $8818 direct costs of gangrene, $14,441 total costs of uninfected ulcer and $2957 total costs of infected ulcer.  Tchero 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• Annual direct costs of stable COPD in Greece in 2014-15 were €1035 per patient overall, of which €223 were out-of-pocket costs and 71% were costs of pharmaceutical treatments. Stafyla 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• Direct costs of COPD in Sweden were €13,179 in 2013 compared with €2716 for the reference population, and indirect costs were approximately €28,000 per patient of working age. Lisspers 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• The costs of hospitalisation for Clostridium difficile infection in Belgian adults in 2012 was €5020 to social security and €6286 to hospitals; mean length of stay was 13.5 days, mortality rate was 8.1%. Pirson 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• Drug users with hepatitis B infection increased 30-fold in Ontario, Canada between 2000-2015; costs of anti-HBV drugs increased 150-fold over the same period to $21 million in 2015 and is estimated to be $34.6m by 2020. Tadrous 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• Costs of neonatal abstinence syndrome associated with maternal opioid use increased in Canada from $14,629 CAD per patient in 2003 to $17,367 in 2014 as incidence tripled. Filteau 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• Median healthcare provider costs of managing pulmonary tuberculosis in Australia were AUD11,538 for drug-susceptible infections and AUD582 for latent TB. Chan 2017 Go to paper on PubMed

Economic evaluations

• The expansion of Affordable Care Act coverage to all American adults could save US$215 in depression treatment and lost productivity per adult and improve QALYs by 0.01, with a total US saving of $47.3bn and 2.2million QALYs gained. Mohit 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• Mean cost per quitter at 12 weeks from smoking cessation services in the UK was £404 in 2013-16; QALY gained were 1.5 per 1000 smokers in short-term and 23.4/1000 over a lifetime. Walker 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• Enhanced recovery after surgery programs reduce length of stay after hepatectomy by 2 days, save 8998 Yuan per patient in China compared with usual care. Jing 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• A Canadian HTA assessment concluded that continuous monitoring of glucose in type 1 diabetes was unlikely to be cost-effective, with ICERs at least $592,206/QALY. Helath Quality Ontario 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• Human brucellosis in India costs society Rs 627.5 million (US$10.46m) per year with a loss of 177,601 DALYs (0.15 DALYs lost per 1,000 people per year). Singh 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• Quadrivalent influenza vaccination may be cost-effective compared with trivalent, with an ICER of I$4183/QALY in South Africa, I$1505/QALY in Vietnam, I$80,966/QALY in Australia. de Boer 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• Linking hepatitis C screening with methadone maintenance treatment is cost-effective in the USA, with an ICER of $24,600/QALY compared with no intervention, $76,500/QALY vs HCV screening alone; net monetary benefit from societal perspective is $511,000 to $975,600. Schackman 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• Screening adults aged 65 yr for peripheral artery disease using ankle-brachial index is cost-effective in the USA, with an ICER of $88,758/QALY overall and $24,092/QALY in high-risk adults. Itoga 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• Radiofrequency ablation is most likely to be cost-effective for varicose veins in the UK at a willingness-to-pay threshold of £20,000, followed by mechanochemical ablation then endovenous laser ablation. Epstein 2018 Go to paper on PubMed

Studies reporting mortality 

• Inpatient mortality was 5% in US patients admitted with systemic sclerosis in 2012-13; the median cost of admission was $8885. Ram Poudel 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• Despite large differences in oncologic treatment strategies after rectal cancer resection across Europe, there is little difference in relative survival between neighbouring countries. Breugom 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• All-cause mortality was 29% lower in south Asians with chronic kidney failure and type 2 diabetes than in the White population in the UK in 2006-2016, HR 0.71 (0.56 to 0.91); the risk of end-stage renal disease was higher in Black than White patients, HR 1.88 (1.11 to 3.19). Mathur 2018 Go to paper on PubMed
• Overall survival from male breast cancer in Denmark was 55.1% at 5 years and 31.7% at 10 years, compared with 76.8% and 59.3% for female breast cancer in 1980-2009. Go to paper on PubMed
• A systematic review found that mortality in older adults after hip fracture was 30% at 1 year and up to 40% at 3 years; 18 to 45% were malnourished, which worsened outcomes. Malafarina 2018 Go to paper on PubMed  
• The Global Burden of Disease study analyses trends in 264 causes of death from 195 countries between 1980 and 2016. GBD 2016 Collaborators 2017 Go to paper on PubMed