During 18 months follow-up mean adjusted total cost (mean: +4,401 EUR; bootstrapped standard error: 3,019.61 EUR) and number of QALY (mean: 0.0061 QALY; bootstrapped standard error: 0.0388 QALY) were higher in the intervention group, but differences were not significant.
The results indicate that patients randomised to laparoscopic surgery had a significantly higher cost around the perioperative period (mean difference=£317.96, 95%CI £235.39 to £395.66), however, the total cost was similar, with the laparoscopic arm having slightly higher total cost (mean difference=£268.11, 95%CI −£689.09 to £1457.52).
Yet absurdly low prices, which cover only 4% of total costs, mean not only that much water is wasted or lost, but also that the board has too little money for investment.
The mode of contact was an important determinant of total costs (mean total costs for home visits: €176 [95%-CI: 168-184]; pracontactontact: €90 [95%-CI: 84-98]; telephone contact: €48 [95%-CI: 40-55]).
Results of the cost analyses are presented by reporting mean volumes, total costs, mean costs per patient per strategy for the on-demand group and the planned group for resource utilization during the index admission, and follow-up (Table 2).
For every analysis, differences in mean total cost and mean QALY data were bootstrapped (1,000 repetitions) adjusting for minimisation variables as well as baseline EQ-5D score [ 33].
Cost analysis by category: For cost categories, aggregate 5-year cost and annual total cost, the mean, standard deviation, the median and cost range were estimated.
The same reduced tree structure resulted when only excluding costs of informal nursing care from total cost, predicting mean total costs of €4,0522 if cardiac insufficiency is present and € 2,260 otherwise (p = 0.001; tree not shown), and reflecting that high nursing costs of PD are largely due to informal care.
The cost analysis was performed using the following two methods: Cost analysis by category: For cost categories, aggregate 5-year cost and annual total cost, the mean, standard deviation, the median and cost range were estimated.
For total costs, bootstrap means with bias-corrected and accelerated (BCa) bootstrap 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated, using 2,000 replications per analysis [ 43].
