Disentangling the value equation: a step forward in value-based healthcare.

Background: The value equation of value-based healthcare (VBHC) as a single figure remains ambiguous, closer to a theoretical framework than a useful tool for decision making. The challenge lies in the way patient-centred outcomes (PCOs) might be combined to produce a single value of the numerator. This paper aims to estimate the weights of PCOs to provide a single figure in the numerator, which ultimately will allow a VBHC figure to be reached.

GOIZ ZAINDU study: a FINGER-like multidomain lifestyle intervention feasibility randomized trial to prevent dementia in Southern Europe.

Background: GOIZ ZAINDU ("caring early" in Basque) is a pilot study to adapt the Finnish Geriatric Intervention Study to Prevent Cognitive Impairment and Disability (FINGER) methodology to the Basque population and evaluate the feasibility and adherence to a FINGER-like multidomain intervention program. Additional aims included the assessment of efficacy on cognition and data collection to design a large efficacy trial.

Method: GOIZ ZAINDU is a 1-year, randomized, controlled trial of a multidomain intervention in persons aged 60+ years, with Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Aging and Dementia (CAIDE) risk score ≥ 6, no diagnosis of dementia, and below-than-expected performance in at least one of three cognitive screening tests.

Using Age-Specific Rates for Parametric Survival Function Estimation in Simulation Models.

Purpose: To describe a procedure for incorporating parametric functions into individual-level simulation models to sample time to event when age-specific rates are available but not the individual data.

Methods: Using age-specific event rates, regression analysis was used to parametrize parametric survival distributions (Weibull, Gompertz, log-normal, and log-logistic), select the best fit using the statistic, and apply the corresponding formula to assign random times to events in simulation models. We used stroke rates in the Spanish population to illustrate our procedure.

Effectiveness of the booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine in the Basque Country during the sixth wave: A nationwide cohort study.

The aim of the study was to assess the effect of a booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine on the rates of hospital ward and intensive care unit (ICU) admissions around the time of emergence of the Omicron variant in the Basque Country. A retrospective cohort population-based study was conducted. The population with any records related to COVID-19 vaccination up to 28 February 2022 was classified into four cohorts by vaccination status.

Estimation of the epidemiology of dementia and associated neuropsychiatric symptoms by applying machine learning to real-world data.

Introduction: Incidence rates of dementia-related neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) are not known and this hampers the assessment of their population burden. The objective of this study was to obtain an approximate estimate of the population incidence and prevalence of both dementia and NPS.

Methods: Given the dynamic nature of the population with dementia, a retrospective study was conducted within the database of the Basque Health Service (real-world data) at the beginning and end of 2019.