Background: Missing data are potentially an extensive problem in cost-effectiveness analyses conducted alongside randomised clinical trials, where prospective collection of both resource use and health outcome information is required. There are several possible reasons for the presence of...

The debate surrounding whether the findings of efficacy studies are applicable to real-world treatment situations is ongoing. The issue of lack of applicability due to a lack of clinical heterogeneity could be addressed by employing less restrictive inclusion criteria. Given that health economic...

Background: Patients with gallbladder and common bile duct stones are generally treated by pre-operative endoscopic sphincterotomy (ES) followed by laparoscopic cholecystectomy (POES). Recently, a meta-analysis has shown that intra-operative ES during laparoscopic cholecystectomy (IOES) results...

Prospective observational studies, which provide information on the effectiveness of interventions in natural settings, may complement results from randomised clinical trials in the evaluation of health technologies. However, observational studies are subject to a number of potential...

Bone densitometry is currently widely recommended for, and considered central to, identifying post-menopausal women and older men at high risk of fracture and establishing an indication for pharmacological fracture-prevention therapy. The purpose of this article is to comprehensively review...

We reviewed several cost-effectiveness analyses that modelled the costs and yield of newborn screening for sickle cell disease (SCD) in the US and the UK and discuss the ways in which newborn screening policies in each country evolved with regard to the results of the analyses. Each of the...

Background:Background: The high number of patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) has facilitated greater research, resulting in the development of innovative medical devices. So far, results from economic evaluations that compared drug-eluting stents (DES) and bare-metal stents (BMS)...

Background:Background: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is considered an orphan disease. Prostacyclins are the keystone for PAH treatment. Choosing between the three available prostacyclin therapies could be complicated because there are no comparison studies, so the final decision must be...

Background:Background: In spite of the important progress made in the abortive treatment of acute migraine episodes since the introduction of triptans, reduction of pain and associated symptoms is in many cases still not as effective nor as fast as would be desirable. Recent research pays more...

If a healthcare delivery system is to achieve quality and efficiency, participants must be able to measure quality and efficiency. Yet no healthcare system in the world - and certainly not the current US system, our main focus - measures, reports and acts on such a measure of productivity. This...