Population norms in France with EQ-5D-5L: health states, value indexes, and VAS.

PURPOSE: To provide EuroQoL EQ-5D-5L French population norms based on a sample of 15,000 responders. METHODS: Based on the National Health and Wellness Survey, an international, annual, selfadministered Internet-based survey, this study extracted data from France for 2018 involving a sample of 15,000 respondents stratified by age and gender. Responses to the EQ-5D-5L questionnaire and the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) score, together with sociodemographic, health behavior, and disease status variables were collected. VAS, value indexes, the level sum score, and the distribution of levels per dimension were described. Multivariate regression analyses were performed to identify covariates with a statistically significant effect on the five dimensions and the three scores. RESULTS: The mean [standard deviation (SD)] VAS was 73.4 (22.2) for the entire sample (male 74.8 vs female 72.2, p < 0.0001). The Mean SD value index was 0.905 (0.158) (male 0.915 vs female 0.895, p < 0.0001). The mean SD level sum score was 7.6 (3.0) (7.4 for males vs. 7.9 for females p < 0.0001). Health state 11,111 (no problem in any dimension) represented 25.1% of all responses. "No problem" responses' proportions were Self Care (91.3%), Usual Activities (74.2%), Mobility (72.4%), Anxiety/Depression (52.6%) and Pain/Discomfort (37.7%). Multivariate regressions revealed a significant relationship for health states, value indexes, and VAS with age, income, employment, marital status, smoking and alcohol consumption, obesity, and the presence of one or more health problems. CONCLUSION: Based on a large sample, this study is the first to report EQ-5D-5L population norms for France.

Correction to: Qualitative Assessment of Adult Patients' Perception of Atopic Dermatitis Using Natural Language Processing Analysis in a Cross-Sectional Study.

The authors would like to correct the images in figures which are in wrong order and require swapping.

Qualitative Assessment of Adult Patients' Perception of Atopic Dermatitis Using Natural Language Processing Analysis in a Cross-Sectional Study.

INTRODUCTION: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is an incurable, inflammatory skin disease characterized by skin barrier disruption and immune dysregulation. Although AD is considered a childhood disease, adult onset is possible, presenting with daily sleep disturbance and functional impairment associated with itch, neuropsychiatric issues (anxiety and depression), and reduced health-related quality of life. Although such aspects of adult AD disease burden have been measured through standardized assessments and based on population-level data, the understanding of the disease experienced at the patient level remains poor. This text-mining study assessed the impact of AD on the lives of adult patients as described from an experiential perspective. METHODS: Natural language processing (NLP) was applied to qualitative patient response data from two large-scale international cross-sectional surveys conducted in the USA and countries outside of the USA (non-USA; Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK). Descriptive analysis was conducted on patient responses to an open-ended question on how they felt about their AD and how the disease affected their life. Character length, word count, and stop word (common words) count were evaluated; centrality analysis identified concepts that were most strongly interlinked. RESULTS: Patients with AD in all countries were most frequently impacted by itch, pain, and embarrassment across all levels of disease severity. Patients with moderate-to-severe AD were more likely than patients with mild AD to describe sleep disturbances, fatigue, and feelings of depression, anxiety, and a lack of hope that were directly associated with AD. Centrality analysis revealed sleep disturbance was strongly linked with itch. Collectively, these concepts revealed that patients with AD are impacted by both physical and emotional burdens that are intricately connected. CONCLUSIONS: Qualitative data from NLP, being more patient-centric than data from clinical standardized measures, provide a more comprehensive view of the burden of AD to inform disease management.

Costs associated with community acquired pneumonia in France.

OBJECTIVES: Pneumocost is a prospective study that aimed at documenting the costs of the management of patients hospitalized with a pneumococcal pneumonia and the post-discharge costs during a 6-month period in the French context. METHODS: Billing data were used to document hospital costs. Resource use during the follow-up period was collected through phone interviews at month 1, 3 and 6. Descriptive statistics and multivariate analyses were performed. We used generalized linear models with log-link functions to estimate parameters associated with hospital and follow-up costs of patients. RESULTS: Five hundred twenty-four patients were enrolled in 40 public centers from October 2011 to April 2014. Average age was 63 (SD 17); 55.0% of them were male. Average length of stay was 15 days (SD 23). Average cost of stay for the French Sickness Fund was €7293 (SD €7363). Average cost of follow-up was €1242 (SD €3000) and decreased steadily through time. When controlling for patient's socioeconomic characteristics, severity of disease and hospital stay, results showed a concave relationship between hospital costs and age. Obesity, the severity of the disease and comorbidities were associated with constantly increasing inpatient costs. Concerning follow-up costs, we found the same concave relationship with age, while gender, a history of pneumonia and severity of the disease were the most important predictors of high costs after discharge. CONCLUSION: Pneumocost is the first French study providing a robust estimation of the cost of managing invasive pneumococcal pneumonia in the French context.

A comparative analysis of two contrasting European approaches for rewarding the value added by drugs for cancer: England versus France.

OBJECTIVES: Within Europe, contrasting approaches have emerged for rewarding the value added by new drugs. In Ireland, The Netherlands, Sweden and the UK, the price of, and access to, a new drug has to be justified by the health gain it delivers compared with current therapy, typically expressed in quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) gained. By contrast, in France and Germany, the assessment of added benefit is expressed on an ordinal scale, based on an assessment of the clinical outcomes as compared with existing care. This assessment then influences price negotiations. The objective of this paper is to assess the pros and cons of each approach, both in terms of the assessments they produce and the efficiency and practical feasibility of the process. METHODS: We reviewed the technology appraisals performed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) relating to 49 anticancer drug decisions in the UK from September 2003 to January 2012. Estimates of the QALYs gained and incremental cost per QALY gained were then compared with the assessments of the Amélioration du Service Médical Rendu (ASMR) made by the Haute Autorité de Santé (HAS) in France for the same drugs in the same clinical indications. We also undertook a qualitative assessment of the two approaches, considering the resources required, timeliness, transparency, stakeholder engagement, and political acceptability. RESULTS: In the UK, the estimates of QALYs gained ranged from 0.003 to 1.46 and estimates of incremental cost per QALY from £3,320 to £458,000. The estimate of cost per QALY gained was a good predictor of the level of restriction imposed on the use of the drug concerned. Patient access schemes, which normally imply price reductions, were proposed in 45 % of cases. In France, the distribution of ASMRs was I, 12 %; II, 18 %; III, 24 %; IV, 18 %; V, 22 %; and uncategorized/non-reimbursed, 4 %. Since ASMRs of IV and above signify minor or no improvement over existing therapy, these ratings imply that, in around 40 % of cases, the drugs concerned would face price controls. Overall, the assessments of value added in the two jurisdictions were very similar. A superior ASMR rating was associated with higher QALYs gained. However, a superior ASMR was not associated with a lower incremental cost per QALY. There are substantial differences in respect of the other attributes considered, but these mainly reflect the result of institutional choices in the jurisdictions concerned and it is not possible to conclude that one approach is universally superior to the other. CONCLUSIONS: The two approaches produce very similar assessments of added value, but have different attributes in terms of cost, timeliness, transparency and political acceptability. How these considerations impact market access and prices is difficult to assess, because of the lack of transparency concerning prices in both countries and the fact that market access also depends on a broader range of factors. There is some evidence of convergence in the approaches, with the movement in France towards producing cost-effectiveness estimates and the movement in the UK towards negotiated prices.