Cost-effectiveness of short-term neurosurgical missions relative to other surgical specialties.
Surg Neurol Int
; 8: 37, 2017.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-28458951
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Short-term surgical relief efforts have helped close some gaps in the provision of surgical care in remote settings. We reviewed the published literature on short-term surgical missions to compare their cost-effectiveness across subspecialties.METHODS:
PubMed was searched using the algorithm ["cost-effectiveness" AND "surgery" AND ("mission" OR "volunteer")]. Articles detailing the cost-effectiveness of short-term surgical missions in low and middle-income countries (LMIC) were included. Only direct mission costs were considered, and all costs were converted into 2014 USD.RESULTS:
Eight articles, representing 27 missions in 9 LMIC countries during 2006-2014, met our inclusion criteria. Latin America was the most frequently visited region. Per capita costs ranged from $259 for cleft lip/cleft palate (CL/CP) missions to $2900 for a neurosurgery mission. Mission effectiveness ranged from 3 disability adjusted life years (DALYs) averted per patient for orthopedic surgery missions to 8.12 DALYs averted per patient for a neurosurgery mission. CL/CP and general surgery missions were the most cost-effective, averaging $80/DALY and $87/DALY, respectively. The neurosurgical, orthopedic, and hand surgery missions averaged the highest costs/DALY averted, with the cost-effectiveness being $357/DALY, $435/DALY, and $445/DALY, respectively. All analyzed missions were very cost effective.CONCLUSION:
To date, this is the first study to assess the cost-effectiveness of short-term surgical missions across surgical specialties. Neurosurgical missions avert the largest number of healthy life years compared to other specialties, and thus, could yield a greater long-term benefit to resource-poor communities. We recommend that further studies be carried out to assess the impact of surgical missions in low-resource settings.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Tipo de estudo:
Health_economic_evaluation
/
Systematic_reviews
Aspecto:
Patient_preference
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Surg Neurol Int
Ano de publicação:
2017
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Estados Unidos