Cost-effectiveness of Endovascular Therapy for Acute Ischemic Stroke: A Systematic Review of the Impact of Patient Age.

Purpose To determine the impact of patient age on the cost-effectiveness of endovascular therapy (EVT) in addition to standard care (SC) in large-vessel-occlusion stroke for patients aged 50 to 100 years in the United States. Materials and Methods A decision-analytic Markov model was used to estimate direct and indirect lifetime costs and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). Age-dependent input parameters were obtained from the literature. Deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analysis for age at index stroke were used. The willingness-to-pay (WTP) was set to thresholds of $50 000, $100 000, and $150 000 per QALY. The study applied a U.S. setting for health care and societal perspectives. Incremental costs and effectiveness were derived from deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analysis. Acceptability rates at different WTP thresholds were determined. Results EVT+SC was the dominant strategy in patients aged 50 to 79 years. The highest incremental effectiveness (2.61 QALYs) and cost-savings (health care perspective, $99 555; societal perspective, $146 385) were obtained in 50-year-old patients. In octogenarians (80-89 years), EVT+SC led to incremental QALYs at incremental costs with acceptability rates of more than 85%, more than 99%, and more than 99% at a WTP of $50 000, $100 000, and $150 000 per QALY, respectively. In nonagenarians (90-99 years), acceptability rates at a WTP of $50 000 per QALY dropped but stayed higher than 85% and higher than 95% at thresholds of $100 000 and $150 000 per QALY. Conclusion Using contemporary willingness-to-pay thresholds in the United States, endovascular therapy in addition to standard care reduces lifetime costs for patients up to 79 years of age and is cost-effective for patients aged 80 to 100 years.