Article
Economics
Bram Wouterse, Frederique Ram, Pieter van Baal
Summary: This study estimated the quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) lost in The Netherlands due to deaths from COVID-19 in 2020. The results showed that even with the concentration of mortality in individuals with poor health, the QALYs lost were still substantial.
Article
Immunology
Fernanda Rodrigues, Robin Marlow, Catarina Gouveia, Paula Correia, Ana Brett, Catarina Silva, Ines Gameiro, Ines Rua, Joao Dias, Marta Martins, Rui Diogo, Teresa Lopes, Elsa Hipolito, Diana Moreira, Manuela Costa Alves, Filipa Prata, Miguel Labrusco, Susana Gomes, Alexandre Fernandes, Alexandra Andrade, Catarina Granjo Morais, Maria Joao Virtuoso, Maria Manuel Zarcos, Ana Teresa Raposo, Adam Boon, Adam Finn
Summary: This study aimed to assess the impact of varicella on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in children and their families, providing important information for cost-utility analysis. Through surveys and assessments of children in the community and admitted to hospitals in Portugal, the study found significant HRQoL losses in children with varicella and their caregivers.
Article
Economics
Masa Davidovic, Nadine Zielonke, Iris Lansdorp-Vogelaar, Nereo Segnan, Harry J. de Koning, Eveline AM. Heijnsdijk
Summary: This study assessed the impact of mammography-based screening on quality of life using DALYs and QALYs, finding that almost the same strategies were on the efficiency frontiers. The choice of outcome measure may lead to differences in ICERs.
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Suja S. Rajan, Jack Tsai
Summary: This study utilized Quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) to estimate the burden of homelessness, finding an average utility value associated with homelessness as 43.4%. The study also highlighted that individuals who have experienced homelessness and financial distress value life as a homeless person considerably less.
Article
Economics
Anirban Basu, Varun J. Gandhay
Summary: The study estimates the total quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) gained by averting 1 COVID-19 infection during the pandemic in the United States. A representative US resident avoiding a COVID-19 infection can result in additional QALYs for the patient, patient's family members, and the contagion effect of the infected patient. Efforts to prevent infections should consider the substantial health benefits of averting 1 COVID-19 infection, while taking into account various influencing factors like effective reproduction number and probability of death.
Review
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Daniel Teshome Gebeyehu, Leah East, Stuart Wark, Md Shahidul Islam
Summary: This systematic review aimed to identify the health burdens of COVID-19 and summarize the literature that can aid health regulators in making evidence-based decisions on COVID-19 mitigation strategies. The impact of COVID-19 on both the length and quality of life has been substantial, causing considerable health crises worldwide. Further studies focusing on increasing preparedness for future pandemics, public sensitization, and multi-sectorial integration are recommended.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Yoonjung Kim, Sohyun Bae, Hyun-Ha Chang, Shin-Woo Kim
Summary: In this study, the long-term impact of long COVID after 24 months of acute infection was investigated. The results showed that 71.2% of the participants experienced symptoms of long COVID, with fatigue, amnesia, concentration difficulties, insomnia, and depression being the most frequently reported symptoms. The study also found no significant effect of COVID-19 vaccination or the number of vaccinations received on the incidence of long COVID. Although the neuropsychiatric quality of life improved over time, it still affected 32.7% of the participants.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2023)
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
M. M. Gianino, A. Savatteri, G. Politano, M. C. Nurchis, D. Pascucc, G. Damiani
Summary: The study aimed to measure and compare the burden of disease of the COVID-19 pandemic in 16 EU/EEA countries through the estimation of Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) over a long period of time. Results showed notable differences among countries, with most of the disease burden attributable to Years of Life Lost (YLLs).
EUROPEAN REVIEW FOR MEDICAL AND PHARMACOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2021)
Review
Health Care Sciences & Services
Leah Z. Rand, Aaron S. Kesselheim
Summary: Criticism against QALYs includes methodological issues that need to be addressed by stakeholders, as well as ethical concerns that require political decisions based on societal values. Overcoming these criticisms is crucial for integrating QALYs into health technology assessment and value-based pricing to address high drug costs and healthcare spending in the US.
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Scott A. McDonald, Giske R. Lagerweij, Pieter de Boer, Hester E. de Melker, Roan Pijnacker, Lapo Mughini Gras, Mirjam E. Kretzschmar, Gerco den Hartog, Arianne B. Van Gageldonk-Lafeber, Susan van den Hof, Jacco Wallinga
Summary: This study quantified the disease burden of acute COVID-19 in the Netherlands in 2020 using the disability-adjusted life-years (DALY) measure. The total disease burden was estimated to be 286,100 DALY, with 99.4% of it consisting of years of life lost. The per-capita burden increased sharply with age, starting from 60 to 64 years, and was relatively low for individuals under 50 years old. These findings provide valuable information for public health decision-makers in planning targeted preventative interventions.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Taito Kitano, David A. Thompson, Lilly Engineer, Matthew Z. Dudley, Daniel A. Salmon
Summary: The benefit-risk ratios of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines were evaluated using a decision tree model and quality-adjusted life years, showing that the benefits outweigh the risks for all age groups, sexes, and comorbidity statuses. The results were consistent across different scenarios and vaccine types.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Guillermo Salinas-Escudero, Filiberto Toledano-Toledano, Carmen Garcia-Pena, Lorena Parra-Rodriguez, Victor Granados-Garcia, Maria Fernanda Carrillo-Vega
Summary: Mexico has been severely affected by the COVID-19 disease, leading to a significant burden of DALYs. The most affected group are individuals over 50 years of age, who have a higher risk of death.
FRONTIERS IN PUBLIC HEALTH
(2021)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Grant M. A. Wyper, Eilidh Fletcher, Ian Grant, Gerry McCartney, Colin Fischbacher, Oliver Harding, Hannah Jones, Maria Teresa de Haro Moro, Niko Speybroeck, Brecht Devleesschauwer, Diane L. Stockton
Summary: The study aimed to estimate the DALYs directly caused by COVID-19 in Scotland in 2020 and compare its population impact with other causes of disease and injury. The results showed that the direct impact of COVID-19 on population health was very substantial, ranking second only to ischemic heart disease. Mortality accounted for 98% of the total DALYs.
ARCHIVES OF PUBLIC HEALTH
(2022)
Article
Immunology
Frank G. Sandmann, Elise Tessier, Joanne Lacy, Meaghan Kall, Edwin Van Leeuwen, Andre Charlett, Rosalind M. Eggo, Gavin Dabrera, W. John Edmunds, Mary Ramsay, Helen Campbell, Gayatri Amirthalingam, Mark Jit
Summary: One in 6 cases report ongoing symptoms at 6 months, and 10% report prolonged loss of function compared to pre-COVID-19 baselines. A marked health burden was observed among older COVID-19 cases and those with persistent physical symptoms. Losses of health-related quality of life in non-hospitalized coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases increase with age and for cases with persistent symptoms. At a population level, the health loss from morbidity contributes at least 18% of the total COVID-19-related disease burden in England.
CLINICAL INFECTIOUS DISEASES
(2022)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Ramy Mohamed Ghazy, Osman Abubakar Fiidow, Fatimah Saed Alabd Abdullah, Iffat Elbarazi, Ismail Ibrahim Ismail, Sulafa Tarek Alqutub, Etwal Bouraad, Esraa Abdellatif Hammouda, Mohamed Mostafa Tahoun, Silmane Mehdad, Rasha Ashmawy, Abdulla Zamzam, Osama Mohamed Elhassan, Qasim Mohamed Al Jahdhami, Hind Bouguerra, Wafaa Kammoun Rebai, Lina Yasin, Esraa Mustafa Jaradat, Yasir Ahmed Mohammed Elhadi, Malik Sallam
Summary: This study evaluated the quality of life and influencing factors among healthcare workers (HCWs) residing in Arab countries, finding that a large proportion of HCWs had poor quality of life, which was affected by variables such as per capita income, country income, and COVID-19 infection.
FRONTIERS IN PUBLIC HEALTH
(2022)
Article
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Patrick Bidulka, Rohini Mathur, David G. Lugo-Palacios, Stephen O'Neill, Anirban Basu, Richard J. Silverwood, Paul Charlton, Andrew Briggs, Liam Smeeth, Amanda Adler, Ian J. Douglas, Kamlesh Khunti, Richard Grieve
Summary: This study assessed the disparities in the prescription of second-line antidiabetic treatments among people with type 2 diabetes in England based on ethnicity and social deprivation. The findings showed no significant differences in the percentage of different types of antidiabetic medications prescribed as second-line treatment based on ethnicity or deprivation level.
DIABETES OBESITY & METABOLISM
(2023)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
M. A. Chaudhary, M. Edmondson-Jones, G. Baio, E. Mackay, J. R. Penrod, D. J. Sharpe, G. Yates, S. Rafiq, K. Johannesen, M. K. Siddiqui, J. Vanderpuye-Orgle, A. Briggs
Summary: This study evaluated the effectiveness of flexible parametric models in predicting the survival benefits of immunooncology treatment for patients with non-small cell lung cancer. The results showed that flexible parametric models were more accurate than standard parametric models in estimating long-term observation results using early follow-up data.
MEDICAL DECISION MAKING
(2023)
Article
Economics
Nathan Green, Felicity Lamrock, Nichola Naylor, Jack Williams, Andrew Briggs
Summary: A health economic evaluation (HEE) is a comparative analysis of alternative courses of action considering both costs and consequences. Cost-effectiveness analysis, a type of HEE, is commonly performed using MS Excel. However, there is a growing interest in using other software, such as R, for more complex problems, methods, and data, as well as improved reproducibility and transparency. This tutorial provides a step-by-step guide on implementing a Markov model, a mainstay model of HEE, in R, aimed at bridging the gap between MS Excel and R for health economic modellers.
Article
Economics
Nichola R. Naylor, Jack Williams, Nathan Green, Felicity Lamrock, Andrew Briggs
Summary: This paper demonstrates how advanced health economic analysis techniques performed in Microsoft Excel can be transferred to R. It provides a step-by-step guide using a Markov model in R and compares the results with established analyses in Microsoft Excel, using a previously published case study of a hip replacement surgery cost-effectiveness model. The paper aims to facilitate the switch from Microsoft Excel to R for complex health economic analyses and provides open-access code and data for future adaptation.
Article
Economics
Francois-Xavier Chalet, Teodora Bujaroska, Evi Germeni, Nizar Ghandri, Emilio T. Maddalena, Kushal Modi, Abisola Olopoenia, Jeffrey Thompson, Matteo Togninalli, Andrew H. Briggs
Summary: This study aimed to map the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) to the EQ-5D-3L utility values from a UK perspective. Various regression models were used to explore the relationship between ISI scores and EQ-5D utility. The study provides an updated mapping algorithm for estimating EQ-5D-3L utilities from the ISI summary total score.
PHARMACOECONOMICS-OPEN
(2023)
Article
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Bartholomeus J. A. Willigers, Mario Ouwens, Andrew Briggs, Hiddo J. L. Heerspink, Carol Pollock, Roberto Pecoits-Filho, Navdeep Tangri, Csaba P. P. Kovesdy, David C. C. Wheeler, Juan Jose Garcia Sanchez
Summary: To minimize uncertainty in projecting long-term outcomes in clinical trials, researchers developed a novel method that incorporates expert opinion in a Bayesian analysis. The results showed that using expert opinion in Bayesian analysis produced a smaller range of survival values compared to frequentist methods.
ADVANCES IN THERAPY
(2023)
Article
Economics
Penny R. Breeze, Hazel Squires, Kate Ennis, Petra Meier, Kate Hayes, Nik Lomax, Alan Shiell, Frank Kee, Frank de Vocht, Martin O'Flaherty, Nigel Gilbert, Robin Purshouse, Stewart Robinson, Peter J. Dodd, Mark Strong, Suzy Paisley, Richard Smith, Andrew Briggs, Lion Shahab, Jo-An Occhipinti, Kenny Lawson, Thomas Bayley, Robert Smith, Jennifer Boyd, Visakan Kadirkamanathan, Richard Cookson, Monica Hernandez-Alava, Christopher H. Jackson, Amanda Karapici, Franco Sassi, Peter Scarborough, Uwe Siebert, Eric Silverman, Luke Vale, Cathal Walsh, Alan Brennan
Summary: This paper aims to assist health economic modelers in responding to the increasing demand for complex systems models in public health. It proposes identifiable features of such models and provides guidance on how to plan public health modeling projects using these models.
Article
Economics
Marc d'Elbee, Fern Terris-Prestholt, Andrew Briggs, Ulla Kou Griffiths, Joseph Larmarange, Graham Francis Medley, Gabriella Beatriz Gomez
Summary: Appropriate costing and economic modeling are crucial for the successful scale-up of health interventions. However, different cost functions can lead to inconsistent cost projections. This study reviewed existing methods and proposed new mathematical notations and cost function frameworks to improve the analysis of healthcare costs in LMICs. These frameworks consider variable returns to scale, which are often neglected in current studies, and aim to balance simplicity and accuracy while increasing transparency in reporting methods.
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Charleen Hsuan, Brendan G. Carr, David Vanness, Yinan Wang, Douglas L. Leslie, Eleanor Dunham, Jeannette A. Rogowski
Summary: Current payment policies neglect hospital transfers for emergency conditions, worsening disparities. There is no existing framework that provides a patient-centered, population-based perspective for the structure of hospital transfer networks. The hospital transfer network equity-quality model highlights the factors that determine the structure of hospital transfer networks, including structural inequity and racism.
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Jillian C. Strayhorn, Linda M. Collins, David J. Vanness
Summary: In the current practice of intervention science, a component screening approach (CSA) is widely used for selecting intervention components based on estimated main effects and interactions. However, we propose an alternative posterior expected value approach based on Bayesian decision theory, which offers easier application and greater flexibility in intervention optimization. Through Monte Carlo simulations, we found that both the posterior expected value approach and CSA outperformed random component selection and classical treatment package approaches. The posterior expected value approach showed slightly more consistent and accurate results compared to CSA across a range of simulated optimization trials, indicating its potential for decision-making in the multiphase optimization strategy (MOST).
PSYCHOLOGICAL METHODS
(2023)
Article
Education, Special
C. A. Melville, C. Hatton, E. Beer, R. P. Hastings, S. -A. Cooper, N. McMeekin, D. Dagnan, K. Appleton, K. Scott, L. Fulton, R. S. P. Jones, A. McConnachie, R. Zhang, R. Knight, D. Knowles, C. Williams, A. Briggs, A. Jahoda
Summary: This study identified baseline variables, including anxiety, IQ, hearing impairment, depression severity, expectation of change, and therapy attendance, as predictors and moderators of outcome in psychological therapies for depression experienced by adults with IDs. These findings have important implications for tailoring therapeutic approaches in treating depression among adults with IDs.
JOURNAL OF INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Respiratory System
Linzy Houchen-Wolloff, Charlotte Overton, Andrew Ibbetson, Archie Walters, Claire Hastie, Rhyan Gill, Natalie Armstrong, Sally Singh, Paul Little, Kirby Evans, John Pimm, Michael Marks, Krisnah Poinasamy, Sam Walker, Andrew Briggs, Rachael A. Evans
Summary: This study aims to describe a typology of UK healthcare pathways post-hospital discharge to understand the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of different pathways. The study found that over half of post-COVID-hospitalisation adults have persistent symptoms 2 years after discharge, posing challenges for individuals and healthcare systems. The results highlight the heterogeneity and vulnerability of healthcare services after COVID-19 hospitalisation.
Article
Primary Health Care
Tianchang Zhao, Rachel Meacock, Matt Sutton
Summary: New data analysis has revealed that appointment activity rates in general practices in England are influenced by factors such as population, workforce, and organisation. Staff numbers and types, as well as practice characteristics, are related to appointment volumes. Higher levels of staffing are associated with more appointment provision, but not speed of appointment availability.
BRITISH JOURNAL OF GENERAL PRACTICE
(2023)
Editorial Material
Medicine, General & Internal
Aris Angelis, Ajay Aggarwal, Alec Miners, Richard Grieve, John Cairns, Andrew Briggs
JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Surgery
Audrey Stevens, Jennie Meier, Archana Bhat, Sara J. Knight, David J. Vanness, Courtney Balentine
Summary: This study compared survival outcomes between lobectomy and total thyroidectomy in patients with papillary thyroid cancer, while addressing the bias from unmeasured confounding variables. The results showed no significant differences in overall survival or survival in subgroup analyses, indicating that total thyroidectomy does not offer a survival advantage over lobectomy regardless of tumor size, patient age, or overall risk of death.
