Published: 23-11-2020

We update the heoro.com database every night from a systematic search of PubMed for studies relevant to health economics and outcomes research. 

This blog summarises some of the key papers added to the database during November 2020.

Studies reporting utilities

• A systematic review found that the SF-36 was the most widely-used instrument to assess quality of life in population-based studies in adults but was only used in 33% of studies. Pequeno 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• Modified Rankin scores were mapped to EQ-5D values to derive utility-weighted stroke outcome measures in participants from international acute stroke trials. Wang 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• EQ-5D tariffs were developed for the rural general population aged 45 to 69 years in China using UK, US, Japanese, Korean and Chinese (city) tariffs. Wang 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• A systematic review found that SF-36 scores decline by a mean 37% in patients after juvenile stroke. Bartholomé 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• A systematic review found mean quality of life scores in people with transsexuality after surgery were 70.45 on the WHOQoL-BREF and 59.17 on the SF-36; scores were higher after male-to-female than female-to-male reassignment. Eftekhar-Ardebili 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• A systematic review found that physical exercise improved SF-36 scores, stress, anxiety and depression in people with substance use disorder. Giminez-Meseguer 2020 Go to paper on PubMed

Studies validating a PRO instrument

• The Anti-Clot Treatment Scale (ACTS) was validated against the Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medication (TSQM) in patients taking warfarin in Saudi Arabia. Shilbayeh 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• A systematic review concluded that the Quality-of-life in epilepsy (QOLIE)-10 and Patient-Reported Outcome Measurement Information System-10 (PROMIS-10) were the most feasible PROMs for assessing quality of life in the waiting room of adult epilepsy clinics. Jones 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• The Clinical Frailty Scale was validated as a predictive measure of 30-day mortality in older people being assessed in the Emergency Department in Switzerland. Kaeppeli 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• A systematic review found no PRO tool that had been validated for use in Duchenne muscular dystrophy; the KIDSCREEN had the greatest validity of those used. Powell 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• A systematic review found the minimal clinically-important difference in patient-reported shoulder outcomes was 15% for American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES), 13% for Oxford Shoulder Score (OSS) and 13% for Western Ontario Rotator Cuff (WORC) scores; MCIDs have not been determined for other shoulder assessment tools. Jones 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• The 12-item PCOS symptoms inventory was validated as a screening tool for polycystic ovarian syndrome in women in the USA. Boivin 2020 Go to paper on PubMed

Other PRO studies

• Education, exercise and diet-based combination interventions significantly improved Adolescent Quality of Life Scale scores in children with obesity in China compared with controls. Diao 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• A meta-analysis of studies of Western university students found that Illness Attitudes Scale health anxiety scores increased by 4.61 points from 1985 to 2017. Kosic 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• A systematic review concluded that pulmonary rehabilitation including lower limb endurance training improves dyspnoea scores, St George's Respiratory Questionnaire  HRQoL scores and exercise capacity in people with stable COPD. Higashimoto 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• A systematic review concluded that social isolation and quarantine during a pandemic increase anxiety, stress and fear among children and parents; universal paid sick leave and financial support might help. Fong 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• Writing letters expressing gratitude to themselves improved emotional exhaustion, happiness and work-life balance in healthcare workers in the following week. Adair 2020 Go to paper on PubMed

Studies reporting costs and resource use

• Patients admitted to a hospital in the USA for vascular surgery incurred lower length of stay and costs, fewer complications and lower mortality than non-vascular cases. Fang 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• Weekly emergency department assessments and hospital admissions for stroke fell by 16% in the UK after the first COVID-19 death but increased by 4% after the Act-FAST campaign. Gittins 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• Between 2001 and 2013, the cost of open repair for abdominal aortic aneurysm in the USA increased by $6,213 to $43,640 per patient but costs of endovascular repair decreased by $3,591 to $31,385. Jayarajan 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
•  3.7% of babies born at 32 to 35 weeks' gestation in the Northern hemisphere are hospitalised with respiratory syncytial virus infection; 82% require respiratory support and 17.9% are admitted to ICU. Lanari 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• A systematic review found monthly management costs for older people with HIV in the USA were $1192 per patient with CD4 >500 cells/mm to $2,873 for patients with CD4 < 50 cells/mm; increased survival means ART-related costs have increased 35.4% and adverse event costs by 175.8% since 1996. Ward 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• ED visits overall declined by 35.2% after a state emergency declaration for COVID-19 compared with 2019 in the USA, with significantly fewer visits for syncope, stroke, urolithiasis and abdominal and back pain. Westgard 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• Mean direct and indirect costs of haemophilia A and B in Iran was US$36,028 per patient per year, 98% of which were direct costs. Keshavarz 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• An outbreak of COVID-19 in a long-term care facility in Spain led to 33.6% of residents becoming infected with 15.3% mortality and 564% excess mortality after 1 month, 24.6% of staff took sick leave and the cost to the facility was €276,281/month for hospitalisations and staff replacement. Mas Romero 2020 Go to paper on PubMed 
• The healthcare costs of second-hand smoke exposure in children in Korea was US$659.61 per exposed child over 20 years, 30% higher than non-exposed children. Park 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• Mean costs of maintaining viral suppression in patients with HIV infection in Guyana was US$648 per year in 2016. Suraratdecha 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• Access to intensive care across 14 European countries was highest in Germany with 35.3 beds/100,000 population and lowest in Sweden (5 beds/100,000); lower access was associated with higher case fatality rates from COVID-19. Bauer 2020 Go to paper on PubMed

Economic evaluations

• A whole disease discrete event simulation model for schizophrenia management suggested that service provision in the UK was not set up to provide the most cost-effective care. Jin 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• A systematic review of economic evaluations concluded that immune checkpoint inhibitors such as pembrolizumab could be cost-effective in non-small-cell lung cancer. Ding 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• Non-platinum-based intravenous chemotherapy was more cost-effective than bevacizumab, niraparib, rucaparib or olaparib-based regimens in platinum-resistant, recurrent ovarian carcinoma in the USA. Wolford 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• Fruquitinib is not cost-effective when added to best supportive care for people with metastatic colorectal cancer in China compared with BSC alone, with an ICER of $36,354/QALY. Zhang 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• Efficiency-frontier analysis found sofosbuvir was unlikely to be cost-effective for treatment-experienced patients with hepatitis C genotype 1 infection in Germany. Gandjour 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• COVID-19 suppression policies are likely to be cost-effective in the UK compared with unmitigated pandemic, with an ICER below £50,000/QALY if suppression leads to a 10% reduction in national income and below £60,000/QALY if national income falls by 7.75%. Zala 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• A systematic review found that use of antivirals was generally found to be cost-effective for pandemics and outbreaks of respiratory illness with high mortality, including COVID-19. Dawoud 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• A problem-solving intervention to prevent sickness absence in people with mental disorders in Sweden cost employers €101 per 1-day reduction in sickness absence, but was cost-effective from a societal perspective. Keus Van De Poll 2020 Go to paper on PubMed

Studies reporting mortality rates and trends

• On multivariate assessment, older age, frailty and worse renal function were the main independent predictors of mortality in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 in the UK. Chinnadurai 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• In patients with COVID-19 in South Korea, liver cirrhosis, old age and diabetes were independent predictors of severe disease and mortality. Lee 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• Survival in children with Wilms tumour was 87% in Tanzania, 92% in Rwanda and 100% in the UK; all children had chemotherapy and most had nephrectomy. Ford 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• After propensity score matching, patients with liver transplants internationally were not at increased risk of mortality from COVID-19 than patients in the UK without transplant. Webb 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• Mortality was 10.78% (2.56/1000 person-years) for patients admitted to hospital with acute exacerbation of asthma or COPD in Ethiopia in 2019, with a mean 17.5 days from admission to death. Mega 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• Deaths from Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) are expected to increase by 85% from 2019 to 2030 in Australia. Adams 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• Factors that independently predicted in-hospital mortality from COVID-19 were age >85 years, impaired renal function and raised C-reactive protein in 3,894 patients in Italy. Di Castelnuovo 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• In patients assessed in the emergency department with COVID-19 in Italy, the NEWS and REMS scores best predicted 7-day ICU admission or death and MEWs and qSOFA were the least accurate. Covino 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• In patients with kidney transplant who had COVID-19 in the USA, 63.4% were hospitalised and 9.8% died, 27% presented with acute kidney injury. Lum 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• In China, COVID-19 spread to more counties in a shorter time and affected more individuals than SARS had done; case fatality rates were 5.6% for COVID-19 and 6.4% for SARS. Zhao 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• A systematic review found sparse evidence that the mortality from murine typhus is 0.4% in untreated patients, 70% may be hospitalised and 27% require ICU admission. Doppler 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• A retrospective study found lower mortality rates in patients with COVID-19 who received zinc sulphate plus hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin compared with hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin alone after multivariate analysis, but no difference in length of hospital or ICU admission. Carlucci 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• In children or adults with cancer in Canada who contracted COVID-19, 13.1% were admitted to ICU, 28.2% died and 19.1% acquired COVID-19 in hospital. Elkrief 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• Mortality was 28.3% in patients with polymyositis or dermatomyositis in Israel, a standardised mortality ratio of 7.4; survival was 90% at 1 year, 82.8% at 5 years, 51.5% at 10 years and 26.1% at 15 years. Kridin 2020 Go to paper on PubMed 
• In-hospital mortality after good-grade aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage in the Philippines was 0.82% and 93.8% had good functional outcome at discharge; outcomes were similar in those with vs without ICU admission. Enriquez 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• Mortality from haemorrhagic stroke was higher in people admitted at weekends (22%) to rural or urban hospitals in the US than those admitted during the week (20%), no weekend effect was seen for ischaemic stroke mortality. Mekonnen 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• Mortality after acute myocardial infarction in Korea was 6% after 338 days; machine learning models accurately predicted 1-year mortality. Lee 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• Use of CPAP in people with COVID-19 in the UK was associated with lower mortality if length of hospitalisation was less than 7 days and CPAP was started within 4 days of admission, but was associated with increased mortality in patients who had longer admissions. Ashish 2020 Go to paper on PubMed
• All-cause mortality in patients with STEMI was 12.9% during COVID-19 in China compared with 3.2% before COVID-19, with longer time to treatment, less PCI and more thrombolysis. Huang 2020 Go to paper on PubMed