Impacto do déficit de investimentos para o tratamento da doença de chagas no Brasil: revisão narrativa / Impact of the investment deficit for the treatment of chagas disease in Brazil: narrative review / Impacto del déficit de inversión para el tratamiento de la enfermedad de Chagas en Brasil: revisión narrativa

Objetivo: discutir sobre o impacto do déficit de investimentos para o tratamento da Doença de Chagas no Brasil. Método: trata-se de uma revisão narrativa da literatura realizada nas seguintes bases de dados: SCIELO, LILACS, BIREME e MEDLINE. A amostra final foi composta por 27 artigos científicos publicados entre o período de 2000 a 2020. Resultados: o Brasil é um dos países com maior prevalência de pacientes portadores da doença, porém pouco se avançou em pesquisas nessa área, de modo a repercutir em um baixo incentivo e investimento dos governantes e da indústria farmacêutica para a Doença de Chagas, tendo em vista a doença ser de progressão lenta e o diagnóstico e o tratamento serem tardios. Conclusão: fica evidente a falta de investimento e políticas públicas que possibilitem o diagnóstico e o tratamento precoce da doença tendo como conseqüência um déficit na qualidade de vida dos pacientes.(AU)

Objective: to discuss the impact of the investment deficit for the treatment of Chagas Disease in Brazil. Method: This is a narrative review of the literature conducted in the following databases: SCIELO, LILACS, BIREME and MEDLINE. The final sample consisted of 27 scientific articles published between 2000 and 2020. Results: Brazil is one of the countries with the highest prevalence of patients with the disease, but little progress has been made in research in this area, so as to have a low incentive and investment from governments and the pharmaceutical industry for Chagas Disease, in view of the disease being of slow progression and the diagnosis and treatment are late. Conclusion: it is evident the lack of investment and public policies that make possible the diagnosis and early treatment of the disease with the consequence of a deficit in the quality of life of the patients.(AU)

Objetivo: discutir el impacto del déficit de inversión para el tratamiento de la enfermedad de Chagas en Brasil. Método: se trata de una revisión narrativa de la literatura realizada en las siguientes bases de datos: SCIELO, LILACS, BIREME y MEDLINE. La muestra final consistió en 27 artículos científicos publicados entre 2000 y 2020. Resultados: el Brasil es uno de los países con mayor prevalencia de pacientes con la enfermedad, pero se ha avanzado poco en la investigación en esta área, para tener un bajo incentivo e inversión de los gobiernos y de la industria farmacéutica para la enfermedad de Chagas, considerando que la enfermedad es de progresión lenta y el diagnóstico y tratamiento son tardíos. Conclusión: es evidente la falta de inversión y de políticas públicas que permitan el diagnóstico y tratamiento precoz de la enfermedad con el consiguiente déficit en la calidad de vida de los pacientes.(AU)

Willingness to Pay for Health Improvements Using Stated Preferences: Prevention Versus Treatment.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate whether there was a difference in willingness to pay (WTP) between prevention and treatment for health benefits of equal magnitude. METHODS: We used a web-based survey instrument in a sample of the Swedish general population to perform a contingent valuation study assessing the WTP for prevention and treatment. We analyzed the WTP as a continuous variable using a two-part regression model to adjust for a mass point around 0 and a skewed distribution among respondents with a positive WTP. RESULTS: The study found that people were less willing, on average, to pay at all for prevention than treatment, but those who were willing to pay for prevention had a higher WTP than for treatment. The latter effect was more substantial, and in total mean WTP for prevention was about 85% higher than for treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The findings from this study contribute to the ongoing discussion on the appropriate cost-effectiveness thresholds by adding prevention as a parameter affecting the demand-side value of health improvements. As such, it can provide support to decision makers in healthcare and in health promotion priority setting.

The geography and economics of forgoing medical examinations or therapeutic treatments in Italy during the economic crisis.

BACKGROUND: In Italy, the number of individuals who have forgone medical examinations or treatments for economic reasons is one of the highest in Europe. During the global economic crisis of 2008, the restrictive policies concerning access to healthcare and the quality of these services, which differs widely throughout the country, may have accentuated the territorial differences in unmet needs, thereby penalizing the more disadvantaged segments of the population. The study aimed at evaluating the geographical and socioeconomic differences, in particular the risk of poverty, that influence forgoing healthcare services in Italy. METHODS: Cross-sectional Italian data from the 2004-2015 European Survey on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) were used. Hierarchical logistic models were tested, using as the outcome unmet needs for medical examinations or treatment in the preceding 12 months, and as risk factor the condition of being at risk of poverty. Age, sex, citizenship, educational level, presence of chronic or severely limiting diseases and self-perceived health were used as adjustment factors. Analyses were stratified over three time periods: pre-crisis (2004-2007), initial phase of the crisis (2008-2012) and second phase of the crisis (2013-2015). RESULTS: In Central Italy and particularly in Southern Italy, a marked increase (9.9% in 2013-2015) was seen in the overall rate of unmet needs as well as in that of unmet needs due to economic reasons. The probability of unmet needs was higher, and increased over time, for those at risk of poverty (aOR = 1.54 in 2004-07, aOR = 1.70 in 2008-12, aOR = 2.21 in 2013-15). Individuals with a low educational level, who had a chronic or severely limiting disease, who perceived their health as not good and immigrants had a higher risk of forgoing healthcare. The regions in Southern Italy had a significantly higher probability of unmet needs. CONCLUSIONS: A strong association was found between the probability of forgoing medical examination or treatment and being at risk of poverty. Study results underline the need for healthcare policies aimed at facilitating access to healthcare services, particularly in the South, by developing a progressive mechanism of contribution to healthcare costs proportional to income and by guaranteeing free access to the poor.

Defining and Managing High-Priced Cures: Healthcare Payers' Opinions.

OBJECTIVES: Recent regulatory approvals of potentially curative but high-cost treatments have made these therapies a focus of health policy discussions. Cures present new challenges to healthcare payers because they have high upfront costs but have life-long health benefits. The objectives of this study are to understand how healthcare payers define and manage cures. We investigated payers' views on key features of curative treatments and the affordability and value challenges they present. METHODS: We conducted semistructured interviews in 2016 with key informants in US payer organizations. Interviewees were directly involved in coverage determination for highly effective and curative therapies. RESULTS: We contacted 24 individuals and 18 participated. When asked what aspects of cures were important for coverage determination, an equal percentage of respondents (61% each) mentioned clinical and economic factors. In defining a cure, half of respondents included an economic element such as no downstream costs associated with the disease. When asked about challenges, 72% of respondents mentioned uncertainty regarding long-term outcomes and 56% mentioned membership churn and competition. CONCLUSIONS: Payers expressed a novel definition of a cure-which we call a "healthcare cost cure"-that captures both the clinical and economic consequences of treatment. This definition may be more pertinent in fragmentary financing systems that unevenly distribute cure costs and benefits across payers. Overall findings indicate that decision makers desire evidence to ensure that the long-term real-world consequences of covering cures match the expected benefits. Future policies need to balance upfront acquisition costs with downstream financial benefits.

The Effect of Medical Technology Innovations on Patient Outcomes, 1990-2015: Results of a Physician Survey.

BACKGROUND: Developments in diagnostics, medical devices, procedures, and prescription drugs have increased life expectancy and quality of life after diagnosis for many diseases. Previous research has shown that, overall, increased investment in medical technology has led to increased health outcomes. In addition, the value of investment in specific innovations, particularly in new pharmaceuticals or biopharmaceuticals, has frequently been shown through an evaluation of the associated health outcomes and costs. Value assessments for all medical technologies and interventions are an important consideration in current debates on access and affordability of health care in the United States. OBJECTIVE: To identify practicing physician impressions of the historical effect of postdiagnosis innovations in medical technology on patient outcomes within the 8 health conditions that have the largest effect on health in the United States. METHODS: National statistics were used to identify the 8 conditions responsible for the most mortality and morbidity within the United States between 1990 and 2014. A physician survey was developed for each major condition to obtain physician opinion on the extent to which pharmaceuticals and biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, diagnostics, and surgical procedures contributed to improvements in postdiagnosis mortality and morbidity outcomes over the evaluated period. Respondents were provided with a fifth category, "cannot allocate," to account for postdiagnosis outcome gains resulting from other factors such as public health interventions. RESULTS: The conditions identified as having the greatest effect on morbidity and mortality since 1990 were breast cancer, ischemic heart disease, human immunodeficiency virus infection, diabetes, unipolar depression, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cerebrovascular disease, and lung cancer. After excluding other factors, physicians specializing in these conditions, with a mean of 21.4 years in practice, considered pharmaceuticals and biopharmaceuticals as having the greatest postdiagnosis effect across all 8 conditions, with 56% of outcome gains attributed to this innovation category. Diagnostics was the second biggest contributor at 20%. CONCLUSIONS: Physician perceptions indicated that attention should be paid to value assessments of innovative diagnostics, devices, and surgical procedures, as well as to pharmaceuticals and biopharmaceuticals, before goals for allocating health care expenditures among the different innovations are determined. DISCLOSURES: Funding for this study was provided by the National Pharmaceutical Council, a health policy research group that receives its funding from biopharmaceutical manufacturers. Wamble is employed by RTI Health Solutions, which received funding from the National Pharmaceutical Council to conduct this research. Ciarametaro and Dubois are employed by the National Pharmaceutical Council.

Cost Sharing of Disease-Modifying Treatments (DMTs) as Policy Lever to Improve DMTs' Access in Multiple Sclerosis.

OBJECTIVES: To understand the nonlinear relationship between out-of-pocket (OOP) payments and disease-modifying treatment (DMT) use and adherence, primarily to pinpoint the threshold at which the use of DMTs becomes price sensitive. METHODS: Individuals with more than two multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnoses (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision code 340) were identified from the MarketScan database (2006-2009). Heterogeneity in treatment was normalized by calculating an annual OOP payment as the average OOP payment for purchasing a fixed basket of DMTs at the insurance plan level. A local linear regression with a model-based recursive partitioning algorithm was applied to explore the relationship between OOP and consequently lower DMT use and adherence as measured by days covered by DMT. RESULTS: We identified the inflection points in annual OOP payments as $442 for DMT use and $890 for DMT adherence. For patients with annual OOP payments of more than $442, a $100-increase in OOP payment was associated with a decline of 0.6% in DMT use; for annual OOP payments of more than $890, a $100-increase in OOP payment was associated with two fewer days of DMT treatments. CONCLUSIONS: Although the use of DMTs and DMT adherence appeared unassociated with OOP payment below $442 and $890, respectively, an excessive OOP payment was a barrier to DMT access. This information can inform maximum monthly and yearly payment caps when designing valued-based insurance plans.

Estimating comparable English healthcare costs for multiple diseases and unrelated future costs for use in health and public health economic modelling.

OBJECTIVES: Healthcare interventions, and particularly those in public health may affect multiple diseases and significantly prolong life. No consensus currently exists for how to estimate comparable healthcare costs across multiple diseases for use in health and public health cost-effectiveness models. We aim to describe a method for estimating comparable disease specific English healthcare costs as well as future healthcare costs from diseases unrelated to those modelled. METHODS: We use routine national datasets including programme budgeting data and cost curves from NHS England to estimate annual per person costs for diseases included in the PRIMEtime model as well as age and sex specific costs due to unrelated diseases. RESULTS: The 2013/14 annual cost to NHS England per prevalent case varied between £3,074 for pancreatic cancer and £314 for liver disease. Costs due to unrelated diseases increase with age except for a secondary peak at 30-34 years for women reflecting maternity resource use. CONCLUSIONS: The methodology described allows health and public health economic modellers to estimate comparable English healthcare costs for multiple diseases. This facilitates the direct comparison of different health and public health interventions enabling better decision making.

Choosing Wisely BMT: American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation and Canadian Blood and Marrow Transplant Group's List of 5 Tests and Treatments to Question in Blood and Marrow Transplantation.

Choosing Wisely encourages dialogue about reducing unnecessary procedures, tests, or treatments in healthcare. The American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (ASBMT) and Canadian Blood and Marrow Transplant Group (CBMTG) established a Choosing Wisely BMT Task Force whose objective was to create a list of top 5 practices in blood and marrow transplantation to be questioned. The Task Force consisted of representatives from ASBMT's Quality Outcomes, Education, and Practice Guidelines committees; ASBMT's Pharmacy Special Interest Group; CBMTG Program Directors; and Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR). Suggestions for current transplantation practices to question were elicited from the CBMTG Program Directors; members of ASBMT's Quality Outcomes, Practice Guidelines, and Education committees; and chairs of the CIBMTR scientific working committees. We received 119 unique suggestions that were ranked based on their potential impact on harm reduction, cost reduction, necessity of the test or practice, and the strength of available evidence. Through a modified Delphi process, suggestions were narrowed down to 6, which were then subjected to systematic reviews. The final 5 recommendations focus on graft source for patients with aplastic anemia, corticosteroid dose for initial treatment of graft-versus-host-disease, optimal number of umbilical cord blood units for transplantation, graft source in matched unrelated donor transplantation, and use of prophylactic intravenous immunoglobulin in transplant recipients. These Choosing Wisely BMT recommendations are relevant to the current clinical practice of blood and marrow transplantation and focus on tests, treatments, or procedures that may be harmful, wasteful, or for which there is no apparent clinical benefit.

Interactive Cost-benefit Analysis: Providing Real-World Financial Context to Predictive Analytics.

Objective: Clinical implementation of predictive analytics that assess risk of high-cost outcomes are presumed to save money because they help focus interventions designed to avert those outcomes on a subset patients who are most likely to benefit from the intervention. This premise may not always be true. A cost-benefit analysis is necessary to show if a strategy of applying the predictive algorithm is truly favorable to alternative strategies. Methods: We designed and implemented an interactive web-based cost-benefit calculator, enabling specification of accuracy parameters for the predictive model and other clinical and financial factors related to the occurrence of an undesirable outcome. We use the web tool, populated with real-world data to illustrate a cost-benefit analysis of a strategy of applying predictive analytics to select a cohort of high-risk patients to receive interventions to avert readmissions for Congestive Heart Failure (CHF). Results: Application of predictive analytics in clinical care may not always be a cost-saving strategy compared with intervening on all patients. Improving the accuracy of a predictive model may lower costs, but other factors such as the prevalence and cost of the outcome, and the cost and effectiveness of the intervention designed to avert the outcome may be more influential in determining the favored strategy. Conclusion: An interactive cost-benefit analyses provides insights regarding the financial implications of a clinical strategy that implements predictive analytics.

Silicon Valley Meets Biomedical Research in the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the philanthropy launched by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, drew attention with its stated goal of helping to "cure, manage, or treat all diseases" by the end of the century. They intend to do it through funding basic research and addressing gaps in biomedical technology.

Individualized cost-effectiveness analysis of patient-centered care: a case series of hospitalized patient preferences departing from practice-based guidelines.

OBJECTIVE: To develop cases of preference-sensitive care and analyze the individualized cost-effectiveness of respecting patient preference compared to guidelines. METHODS: Four cases were analyzed comparing patient preference to guidelines: (a) high-risk cancer patient preferring to forgo colonoscopy; (b) decubitus patient preferring to forgo air-fluidized bed use; (c) anemic patient preferring to forgo transfusion; (d) end-of-life patient requesting all resuscitative measures. Decision trees were modeled to analyze cost-effectiveness of alternative treatments that respect preference compared to guidelines in USD per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) at a $100,000/QALY willingness-to-pay threshold from patient, provider and societal perspectives. RESULTS: Forgoing colonoscopy dominates colonoscopy from patient, provider, and societal perspectives. Forgoing transfusion and air-fluidized bed are cost-effective from all three perspectives. Palliative care is cost-effective from provider and societal perspectives, but not from the patient perspective. CONCLUSION: Prioritizing incorporation of patient preferences within guidelines holds good value and should be prioritized when developing new guidelines.

Avaliação econômica das abordagens terapêuticas para o tratamento das hepatites B e C: comparação das diretrizes nacionais e internacionais / Economic evaluation of therapeutic approaches for the treatment of hepatitis B and C: comparison of national and international guidelines

As hepatites virais B e C, nas últimas décadas, emergiram e se mantiveram em evidência como um grande problema de saúde pública. O desenvolvimento e a disseminação do uso de medicamentos antivirais vêm contribuindo para a diminuição da carga dessas infecções em nível individual e coletivo. Especialmente na última década, disponibilizaram-se tecnologias mais seguras e eficazes para o diagnóstico precoce e para o tratamento. No intuito de assegurar o uso racional desses insumos, muitos países elaboraram recomendações que incluem, os critérios de inclusão e exclusão para o tratamento e o estabelecimento do curso terapêutico. As recomendações nacionais e internacionais para o tratamento das hepatites B e C divergem em diversos aspectos, principalmente no que se refere aos fármacos eleitos como primeira linha de tratamento e ao público prioritário. No caso da hepatite C, o Ministério da Saúde brasileiro indica a terapia tripla somente para portadores de doença hepática avançada. O consenso internacional, representado pela OMS, pela AALSD e pelo NICE, assume direção oposta, ao propor como público prioritário, indivíduos com hepatite leve e moderada. As recomendações nacionais e internacionais para o tratamento da hepatite B se assemelham em grande medida, mas são conflitantes no que diz respeito aos medicamentos eleitos como primeira escolha. Com base nas divergências das diretrizes terapêuticas nacionais e internacionais, esse estudo objetivou confrontar as óticas nacionais e internacionais e avaliar as estratégias mais custo-efetivas para o tratamento contra o vírus da hepatite B (VHB) e o vírus da hepatite C (VHC) sob a perspectiva do SUS. Os resultados do modelo econômico construído indicam que o uso precoce e universal dos inibidores de protease (IPs) emerge como a conduta mais racional para o tratamento da hepatite C crônica na atualidade. Essa abordagem resulta em melhores desfechos clínicos e econômicos se comparada à terapia dual (peguinterferon + ribavirina) e ao uso de IPs no caso de refratariedade ao tratamento prévio e especialmente quando empregada restritamente aos casos de fibrose avançada, tal como recomendado pelas diretrizes nacionais. Na avaliação do custo-efetividade das recomendações terapêuticas para o tratamento contra o VHB em indivíduos HBeAg não reagentes, o uso do tenofovir se mostrou a estratégia mais eficiente. A terapia com tenofovir constitui a primeira linha de tratamento nas diretrizes nacionais atuais e foi a que apresentou maior efetividade associada ao menor custo global, contrariando as proposições de protocolos internacionais e de algumas publicações anteriores. Em síntese, a análise farmacoeconômica comparativa entre as diretrizes nacionais e internacionais para o tratamento das hepatites crônicas revela que a conduta de tratamento contra o VHB adotada no Brasil é adequada pelos pontos de vista clínico e econômico. Em contrapartida, as mesmas conclusões não se aplicam ao caso do tratamento da infecção do genótipo 1 da hepatite C, que, da forma como está sendo conduzido, penaliza uma parcela significativa dos indivíduos portadores, por oferecer o que há de mais avançado em tratamento antiviral exclusivamente aos pacientes com menores chances de resposta, maior risco de desenvolvimento de intolerância medicamentosa e já em estágio terminal da doença hepática

In the last decades, viral hepatitis B and C have emerged and have remained in evidence as a major public health problem. The development and dissemination of the use of antiviral drugs has contributed to reduce the burden of these infections at the individual and collective levels. Especially in the last decade, safer and more effective technologies have been made available for early diagnosis and treatment. In order to ensure the rational use of antivirals, many countries have developed recommendations that adds the inclusion and exclusion criterias for the treatment and establishment of the therapeutic course. National and international recommendations for the treatment of hepatitis B and C differ in several respects, especially for the drugs chosen as the first treatment line and for the priority public. In the case of hepatitis C, the Brazilian Ministry of Health indicates triple therapy only for patients with advanced liver disease. The international consensus, represented by WHO, AALSD and NICE, assumes the opposite direction proposing as a priority public, individuals with mild and moderate hepatitis. National and international recommendations for the treatment of Hepatitis B closely resemble each other but are in conflict with regard to medicines chosen as the first choice. Based on divergences among national and international therapeutic guidelines, this study aimed to compare national and international perspectives and to evaluate the most cost-effective strategies for the treatment of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) from the SUS perspective. The results of the constructed economic model indicate that the early and universal use of protease inhibitors (PIs) emerges as the most rational conduct for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C today. This approach results in better clinical and economic outcomes compared to dual therapy (peginterferon + ribavirin) and the use of PIs in the case of refractoriness to previous treatment and especially when used strictly to cases of advanced fibrosis, as recommended by the national guidelines. In cost-effectiveness evaluation of the therapeutic recommendations for the treatment against HBV in non-reactive HBeAg individuals, the use of tenofovir was the most efficient strategy. In current national guidelines, tenofovir is recommended as the first-line treatment and was the one with the highest effectiveness associated with the lowest overall cost, contrary to the proposals of international protocols and some previous publications. In summary, the comparative pharmacoeconomic analysis between the national and international guidelines for the treatment of chronic hepatitis reveals that the treatment approach against HBV adopted in Brazil is adequate from the clinical and economic points of view. In contrast, the same conclusions do not apply to the treatment of hepatitis C genotype 1 infection, which, as it is being conducted, penalizes a significant portion of carriers because it offers the most advanced antiviral treatment exclusively to patients with lower chances of response, higher risk of developing drug intolerance and already in the terminal stage of liver disease

Assessing the feasibility of a web-based domestic violence intervention using chronic disease frameworks: reducing the burden of 'treatment' and promoting capacity for action in women abused by a partner.

BACKGROUND: Domestic violence shares many features with chronic disease, including ongoing physical and mental health problems and eroded self-efficacy. Given the challenges around help-seeking for women experiencing domestic violence, it is essential that they be given support to 'self-manage' their condition. The growing popularity of web-based applications for chronic disease self-management suggests that there may be opportunities to use them as an intervention strategy for women experiencing domestic violence, however, as yet, little is known about whether this might work in practice. DISCUSSION: It is critical that interventions for domestic violence-whether web-based or otherwise-promote agency and capacity for action rather than adding to the 'workload' of already stressed and vulnerable women. Although randomised controlled trials are vital to determine the effectiveness of interventions, robust theoretical frameworks can complement them as a way of examining the feasibility of implementing an intervention in practice. To date, no such frameworks have been developed for the domestic violence context. Consequently, in this paper we propose that it may be useful to appraise interventions for domestic violence using frameworks developed to help understand the barriers and facilitators around self-management of chronic conditions. Using a case study of an online healthy relationship tool and safety decision aid developed in Australia (I-DECIDE), this paper adapts and applies two theories: Burden of Treatment Theory and Normalisation Process Theory, to assess whether the intervention might increase women's agency and capacity for action. In doing this, it proposes a new theoretical model with which the practical application of domestic violence interventions could be appraised in conjunction with other evaluation frameworks. This paper argues that theoretical frameworks for chronic disease are appropriate to assess the feasibility of implementing interventions for domestic violence in practice. The use of the modified Burden of Treatment/Normalisation Process Theory framework developed in this paper strengthens the case for I-DECIDE and other web-based applications as a way of supporting women experiencing domestic violence.

The value of disease prevention vs treatment.

We present an integrated valuation model for diseases that are life-threatening. The model extends the standard one-period value-per-statistical-life model to three health prospects: healthy, ill, and dead. We derive willingness-to-pay values for prevention efforts that reduce a disease's incidence rate as well as for treatments that lower the corresponding health deterioration and mortality rates. We find that the demand value of prevention always exceeds that of treatment. People often overweight small risks and underweight large ones. We use the rank dependent utility framework to explore how the demand for prevention and treatment alters when people evaluate probabilities in a non-linear manner. For incidence and mortality rates associated with common types of cancers, the inverse-S shaped probability weighting found in experimental studies leads to a significant increase in the demand values of both treatment and prevention.

A systematic review of modelling approaches in economic evaluations of health interventions for drug and alcohol problems.

BACKGROUND: The overarching goal of health policies is to maximize health and societal benefits. Economic evaluations can play a vital role in assessing whether or not such benefits occur. This paper reviews the application of modelling techniques in economic evaluations of drug and alcohol interventions with regard to (i) modelling paradigms themselves; (ii) perspectives of costs and benefits and (iii) time frame. METHODS: Papers that use modelling approaches for economic evaluations of drug and alcohol interventions were identified by carrying out searches of major databases. RESULTS: Thirty eight papers met the inclusion criteria. Overall, the cohort Markov models remain the most popular approach, followed by decision trees, Individual based model and System dynamics model (SD). Most of the papers adopted a long term time frame to reflect the long term costs and benefits of health interventions. However, it was fairly common among the reviewed papers to adopt a narrow perspective that only takes into account costs and benefits borne by the health care sector. CONCLUSIONS: This review paper informs policy makers about the availability of modelling techniques that can be used to enhance the quality of economic evaluations for drug and alcohol treatment interventions.