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...

Background: The correct valuation of health state scenarios is important for economic analyses, disease burden assessment and setting clinical guidelines. However, it is unclear whether we should use individual or group valuations. We aimed to compare individual and group valuations of a range...

Objective: Several EU countries are determining reimbursement prices of pharmaceuticals by cross-referencing prices of foreign countries. Our objective is to quantify the theoretical cross-border spill-over effects of cross-reference pricing schemes on pharmaceutical prices in the former EU-15...

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...

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...

Background: Policy makers are increasingly interested in developing performance indicators that measure hospital efficiency. These indicators may give the purchasers of health services an additional regulatory tool to contain health expenditure. Objective: Using panel data, this study compares...

If present increases in the rate of obesity persist, by 2015 half of the population in the US could be obese. This article presents the case that the reason for the epidemic is an `infrastructure of obesity' that fuels the phenomenon. To control this epidemic, public policy in general and health...