Our group functional balance intervention needs to be further tested in a prospective trial with falls as a primary outcome rather than balance measures to see if our intervention is effective in reducing fall risk as well as looking at cost-effectiveness of group vs. individual treatment.
Looking at cost-effectiveness, in contrast, the situation is completely different.
This method has been used in the past to look at cost-effectiveness.
Evaluations are directed at cost-effectiveness (with depression severity and diagnostic status as outcomes), and cost-utility (with costs per quality adjusted life year, QALY, as outcome).
17, 30, 31 Finally, looking at cost-effectiveness analysis, Joore et al reported that using a hearing aid and returning hearing-impaired people to an ordinary lifestyle is cost effective.
Evaluating ART treatment using purely traditional health economic methods, such at cost-effectiveness and cost-utility analyses, is problematic because ARTs, unlike other healthcare interventions, are judged by their ability to create life rather than to extend or improve quality of life.
The probabilistic sensitivity analysis indicated that the no-treatment strategy was preferred at cost-effectiveness thresholds less than approximately 30,000 TL (€14,925) per QALY, and tenofovir had the highest probability of being optimal above this threshold (Fig. 2) for the HBeAg-positive (non-cirrhosis) patients.
Table 2 shows the probability of screening being cost effective at different cost effectiveness thresholds under the six different scenarios for the effect of screening on breast cancer incidence.
In the base case, the probability that surgery is cost effective at a cost effectiveness threshold of £20 000 is 0.94.
21 This process has been repeated 1000 times to predict the likelihood that ivabradine would be cost-effective at different cost effectiveness thresholds (the value the decision maker is willing to pay for each additional QALY).
