Value in Health Regional Issues

OBJECTIVES: Cancer and its treatments significantly impact individuals' lives and quality of life (QOL). Research on QOL examines these effects, encompassing physical, psychological, and social aspects. Understanding QOL factors is vital for both patients and clinicians. The evaluation of QOL of patients with cancer and its associated predictive factors has not been previously investigated within the Beni Mellal-Khenifra region of Morocco. Our primary aim was to assess the QOL experienced by patients while simultaneously identifying the determinants and predictors influencing it...

OBJECTIVES: Access to innovative and effective medication is a citizen's right. The main objectives of this study were to build an indicator to measure access to medicines within hospitals, the Global Medicines Access Index, and to identify the main existing barriers. METHODS: Cross-sectional study carried out in Portuguese National Health Service hospitals. A consensus methodology (expert panel of 7 members) was used to define which dimensions should be included in the index and the weighting that each should take...

OBJECTIVES: Frailty is common in older people and is associated with increased use of healthcare services and ongoing use of multiple medications. This study provides insights into the healthcare cost structure of a frail group of older adults in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Furthermore, we investigated the relationship between participants' anticholinergic and sedative medication burden and their total healthcare costs to explore the viability of deprescribing interventions within this cohort...

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to identify the association between healthcare fragmentation and survival for patients with colorectal cancer in Colombia. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was performed using administrative databases, with an electronic algorithm to identify patients with colorectal cancer based on codes. The patients were enrolled between January 1, 2013, and December 31, 2016. The exposure variable was fragmentation, which was measured based on the number of different healthcare institutions that treated a patient during the first year after diagnosis...

OBJECTIVES: To determine the cost-effectiveness of the QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus (QFT-Plus) test versus the tuberculin skin test in diagnosing latent tuberculosis infection in immunocompetent subjects in the context of the Colombian healthcare system. METHODS: A hypothetical cohort of 2000 immunocompetent adults vaccinated with Bacillus Calmette-Guérin at birth who are asymptomatic for tuberculosis disease was simulated and included in a decision tree over a horizon of <1 year...

OBJECTIVES: There are irregularities in investment cases generated by the Mental Health Compartment Model. We discuss these irregularities and highlight the costing techniques that may be introduced to improve mental health investment cases. METHODS: This analysis uses data from the World Bank, the World Health Organization Mental Health Compartment Model, the United Nations Development Program, the Kenya Ministry of Health, and Statistics from the Kenyan National Commission of Human Rights...

OBJECTIVES: We assessed the quality of pharmacoeconomic studies conducted in India to report key areas of focus on the findings from the reviewed studies. METHODS: A targeted literature review was conducted using well-defined search strategy in PubMed to identify economic studies conducted in India from May 2017 to April 2022. Only economic evaluation studies were included, whereas trial-based cost analyses were excluded. The quality of included studies was assessed using the Quality of Health Economic Studies tool, which comprised 16 evaluation criteria related to objectives, source, funding, perspective, subgroup analysis, scales, and economic modeling related parameters...

OBJECTIVES: A growing interest in healthcare costs and patients' health-related quality of life (HRQoL) exists in the context of the increasing importance of health technology assessment in countries with high numbers of the HIV and tuberculosis (TB) patient populations, such as Indonesia. This study aimed to analyze the HRQoL and out-of-pocket (OOP) costs of HIV, TB, and TB/HIV coinfected participants in a city in Indonesia with a high prevalence of HIV and TB. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in the voluntary counseling and testing and lung clinics of Bekasi City Public Hospital (Indonesia) from January to March 2018...

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to examine the cost-effectiveness of nivolumab (NIVO) plus ipilimumab (IPI) combination therapy (NIVO + IPI) compared with the sunitinib (SUN) therapy for Japanese patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma from the perspective of a Japanese health insurance payer. METHODS: A lifetime horizon was applied, and 2% per annum was set as the discount rate. The threshold was set as $ 75 000 per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) gained...

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate the relationships between sets of variables related to health system performance indicators and health outcomes. METHODS: The relationships between a set of health outcomes and a set of health system performance indicators of a developing country were examined using multivariate statistical analysis techniques. A combinative strategy of explanatory factor analysis and the canonical correlation coefficient was used to define linear structural relationships between study variables...

OBJECTIVES: Prostate cancer is a common form of cancer among men worldwide. The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review of the economic evaluations of prostate cancer treatment strategies. METHODS: This systematic review was conducted using multiple electronic databases up to May 2021. English-language economic evaluation studies that compared intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), 3-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3DCRT), and radical prostatectomy (RP) were included...

OBJECTIVES: Cancers are significant medical conditions that contribute to the rising costs of healthcare systems and chronic diseases. This study aimed to estimate the average costs of medical services provided to patients with advanced cancers at the end of life (EOL). METHODS: We analyzed data from the Sata insurance claim database and the Health Information System of Baqiyatallah hospital in Iran. The study included all adult decedents who had advanced cancer without comorbidities, died between March 2020 and September 2020, and had a history of hospitalization in the hospital...

OBJECTIVES: Financial toxicity (FT) is an important adverse effect of cancer. Recent systematic reviews have shown that FT may lead to treatment nonadherence and impaired health-related quality of life, both of which may adversely influence the survival rates of patients. However, less is known about how patients endure FT, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. The purpose of this study was to explore how patients with cancer experience and cope with FT in Indonesia. METHODS: Semistructured in-depth interviews were conducted to explore the experiences of Indonesian patients with cancer...

OBJECTIVES: In the absence of evidence on whether neoadjuvant (NAC) or adjuvant chemotherapy (AC) is more beneficial for various tumor treatments, economic evaluation (EE) can assist medical decision making. There is limited evidence on their cost-effectiveness and their prospective evaluation is less likely in the future. Therefore, a systematic review and meta-analysis about EE for NAC versus AC in solid tumor help compare these therapies from various perspectives. METHODS: Various databases were searched for studies published from inception to 2021...

OBJECTIVES: The Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI) is the most popular and widely used questionnaire in evaluating patients with vertigo. This questionnaire has a screening version with a high correlation with DHI. This study aimed to assess the psychometric properties of the Persian DHI - Screening version (DHI-S). METHODS: This cross-sectional and methodological study was conducted on 300 patients at the central vestibular clinic in Mashhad, Iran, from 2020 to 2021...

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INTRODUCTION: The use of comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) and target therapies is associated with substantial improvements in clinical outcomes among patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, the costs of CGP may increase the financial pressures of NSCLC on health systems worldwide, especially in low- and middle-income countries. This study aimed to estimate the cost-effectiveness of CGP compared with current genomic tests in patients with NSCLC from the perspective of the Colombian Health System...

OBJECTIVES: We discuss key health challenges currently faced by countries in the Central America and Dominican Republic region after the COVID-19 pandemic. We highlight the influence of socioeconomic determinants for the challenging public health dynamics observed and the crucial roles that regional cooperation and health economic research can have for tackling such challenges. METHODS: We present a descriptive overview of the current situation of public finances and its effect on government capacity to improve social expenditure...

OBJECTIVES: Most refugees and internally displaced people (IDP) stay in low- and middle-income settings. A substantial proportion are hosted by countries in sub-Saharan African (SSA), which puts significant pressure on limited government healthcare budgets. As health economics may guide more optimal healthcare decision making, we scope the health economics literature on forcibly displaced populations in SSA to identify the nature and range of health economics evidence. METHODS: We conducted a scoping review of peer-reviewed and gray literature in English published from 2000 to 2021...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.