Common Methodological Flaws in Economic Evaluations

Datos Bibliográficos

ID9105013
AutoresMichael Drummond (0000-0002-6126-0944, University of York), Mark Sculpher (0000-0003-3746-9913, Public Health Wales)
Año2005
Volumen43
Número7
PáginasII-5
Fecha de publicación2005-07-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaMedical Care (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0025-7079 • E-ISSN: 1537-1948
EditorialOvid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1097/01.mlr.0000170001.10393.b7
PMID16056003
OpenAlexW2047947183
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas9
Referencias citadas35

Economic evaluations are increasingly being used by those bodies such as government agencies and managed care groups that make decisions about the reimbursement of health technologies. However, several reviews of economic evaluations point to numerous deficiencies in the methodology of studies or the failure to follow published methodological guidelines. This article, written for healthcare decision-makers and other users of economic evaluations, outlines the common methodological flaws in studies, focussing on those issues that are likely to be most important when deciding on the reimbursement, or guidance for use, of health technologies. The main flaws discussed are: (i) omission of important costs or benefits; (ii) inappropriate selection of alternatives for comparison; (iii) problems in making indirect comparisons; (iv) inadequate representation of the effectiveness data; (v) inappropriate extrapolation beyond the period observed in clinical studies; (vi) excessive use of assumptions rather than data; (vii) inadequate characterization of uncertainty; (viii) problems in aggregation of results; (ix) reporting of average cost-effectiveness ratios; (x) lack of consideration of generalizability issues; and (xi) selective reporting of findings. In each case examples are given from the literature and guidance is offered on how to detect flaws in economic evaluations

Actuarial science · Cost–benefit analysis · Economic evaluation · Economic growth · Economics · Generalizability theory · Government (linguistics) · Health care · Management science · Political science · Public economics · Reimbursement · Risk analysis (engineering) · Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life · Healthcare cost, quality, practices · Healthcare Policy and Management · Medicine · Psychology