Thromboprophylaxis of Patients Submitted to Total Hip and Knee Arthroplasty: A Cost-Effectiveness Assessment From the Perspective of the Brazilian National Health System.

OBJECTIVES: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a serious national and international public health issue. Major orthopedic surgeries, such as a total hip (THA) and knee (TKA) arthroplasties, are associated with an increased risk of VTE, long-term complications, functional disability, and death resulting from hypercoagulability by surgical trauma. This pharmacoeconomic analysis aimed to identify the most cost-effective anticoagulant alternative in preventing VTE in patients undergoing THA and TKA. METHODS: A decision tree model was developed, comparing direct oral anticoagulants (rivaroxaban, apixaban, and dabigatran) with enoxaparin, with separate THA and TKA models a 3-month time horizon from the perspective of the Brazilian National Health System. The results were presented as incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER), and the outcomes analyzed were avoided complications (ACs) after thromboprophylaxis. Comparative effectiveness was obtained from a published meta-analysis. A willingness to pay value of approximately R$ 15 000.00 was used per AC, and a probabilistic sensitivity analysis with the Monte Carlo simulation was conducted. RESULTS: Apixaban was the anticoagulant that presented the best ICER for patients undergoing THA (R$ 207.52/AC) and TKA (R$ 133.59/AC), followed by rivaroxaban (R$ 347.21/AC), dabigatran (R$ 372.56/AC), and enoxaparin (R$ 711.44/AC) for THA and by dabigatran (R$ 194.07/AC), rivaroxaban (R$ 221.12/AC), and enoxaparin (R$ 747.25/AC) for TKA. After ICER analysis, apixaban prevails over the other technologies analyzed for both surgical procedures, confirmed after sensitivity analysis. CONCLUSION: Our model suggests that, in the Brazilian National Health System, apixaban is the most cost-effective alternative in preventing VTE after THA and TKA.

Efficacy and safety of oral phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitors for erectile dysfunction: a network meta-analysis and multicriteria decision analysis.

PURPOSE: To quantitatively assess the benefit-risk ratio on the efficacy and safety of all phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors (PDE5i) in men with erectile dysfunction. METHODS: A systematic review with network meta-analysis, surface under the cumulative ranking analysis and stochastic multicriteria acceptability analyses were performed. Searches were conducted in Pubmed, Scopus, Web of Science without limits for time-frame or language. Randomized controlled trials evaluating the efficacy or safety of any PDE5i compared to a placebo or to other PDE5i in males with erectile disfunction were included. RESULTS: Overall, 184 articles representing 179 randomized controlled trials (50,620 patients) were included. All PDE5i were significantly more efficient than placebo. Sildenafil 25 mg was statistically superior to all interventions in enhancing IIEF (with a 98% probability of being the most effective treatment), followed by sildenafil 50 mg (80% of probability). Taladafil 10 mg and 20 mg also presented good profiles (73% and 76%, respectively). Avanafil and lodenafil were less effective interventions. Mirodenafil 150 mg was the treatment that caused more adverse events, especially flushing and headaches. Sildenafil 100 mg was more related to visual disorders, while vardenafil and udenafil were more prone to cause nasal congestion. CONCLUSION: Sildenafil at low doses and tadalafil should be the first therapeutic options. Avanafil, lodenafil and mirodenafil use are hardly justified given the lack of expressive efficacy or high rates of adverse events.

Effectiveness and Cost-Effectiveness of Triple Therapy With Telaprevir and Boceprevir for Chronic Hepatitis C: A Decision Analysis From the Brazilian Public Health System Perspective.

OBJECTIVES: Because of the lack of evidence regarding long-term effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of first-generation direct-acting antivirals for chronic hepatitis C (CHC) treatment in Brazil, we performed a cost-utility analysis comparing standard dual therapy (peginterferon plus ribavirin [pegIFN/RBV]), boceprevir, and telaprevir for CHC patients. METHODS: We developed a state-transition Markov model simulating the progression of CHC. Long-term outcomes included remaining life expectancy in life-years (LYs), quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER). Short-term outcomes included sustained virological response rates (SVR). Direct medical costs were obtained from Brazilian databases. A lifelong time horizon was considered and a 5% annual discount rate was applied for costs and clinical outcomes. A willingness-to-pay threshold of approximately $20 000 per QALY was used. We performed multiple sensitivity analyses. RESULTS: For short- and long-term scenarios, therapy with boceprevir was dominated by telaprevir, which was more effective than standard dual therapy (75.0% vs 40.4% SVR rate, 13.47 vs 12.59 LYs, and 9.74 vs 8.49 QALYs, respectively) and was also more expensive ($15 742 vs $5413). The corresponding ICERs were $29 854/SVR, $11 803/LY, and $8277/QALY. Based on our model, triple therapy with telaprevir was the most cost-effective treatment for the Brazilian health system. Despite a lack of data regarding the Brazilian population, we incorporated as many applicable parameters as possible. CONCLUSIONS: Telaprevir is more effective and cost-effective than boceprevir. Our model may be applied for other settings with a few adjustments in the input parameters.

Cost-effectiveness of acromegaly treatments: a systematic review.

PURPOSE: Acromegaly is a rare disease that results in the enlargement of body extremities and in organomegaly. Treatments include surgery, drugs, and radiotherapy, which are all onerous. Therefore, well-conducted cost-analyses are crucial in the decision-making process. METHODS: A systematic review of cost-effectiveness studies on acromegaly therapies was performed following PRISMA and Cochrane recommendations. The search for records was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science (May 2018). The quality of the included studies was assessed using the Joana Briggs Institute Tool. RESULTS: From initial 547 records, 16 studies were included in the review. The studies could present more than one economic evaluation, and encompassed cost-effectiveness (n = 13), cost-utility (n = 5), and cost-consequence (n = 1) analyses. All studies were model-based and evaluated only direct medical costs. Eleven records did not mention discounting and only 10 performed sensitivity analyses. The characteristic of the studies, the cost-effectiveness results and the studies' conclusions are described and commented upon. The main limitation of the studies was discussed and aspects to improve in future studies were pointed out. CONCLUSIONS: Cost-effectiveness studies on acromegaly have been performed in several scenarios, evaluating different phases of treatment. However, the studies present limitations and, overall, were considered of moderate quality. Further economic models should be developed following health economics guidelines recommendations, and must improve transparency.