Cost of illness associated with Niemann-Pick disease type C in the UK.

Objective: Niemann-Pick disease type C (NP-C) is a rare and devastating genetic disorder characterised by a range of progressive neurological symptoms, which imposes a burden on patients, family members, the healthcare system and society overall. The objective of this study was to assess direct and indirect costs associated with NP-C in the UK.

Methods: This was a non-interventional, retrospective, cross-sectional cohort study based on responses from patients and/or their carers/guardians recruited from a UK NP-C database.

Self-reported healthcare decision-makers' attitudes towards economic evaluations of medical technologies.

Background: Increasing costs have generated concern among governments and healthcare providers who have realized the need for cost containment measures and more efficient resource utilization. Health economics is one potential source of information that can make healthcare more efficient.

Scope: This review article summarizes the published literature on self-reported attitudes of healthcare decision-makers towards economic evaluations of medical technologies and examines the extent to which economic evaluations are used in health policy decisions.

Modelling the lifetime costs and health effects of lifestyle intervention in the prevention and treatment of obesity in Switzerland.

Aim: To quantify the lifetime health and economic consequences of preventing and treating obesity with lifestyle intervention in Switzerland.

Methods: A Markov model was developed comparing lifestyle intervention and standard care in overweight and obese people. Changes in weight and cardiovascular risk factors over time were modeled from reduction in body mass index, systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol and high density lipoprotein in three-year active treatment period.

Prevention and treatment of obesity with lifestyle interventions: review and meta-analysis.

Objective: To assess the mid- to long-term effectiveness of lifestyle interventions in the prevention and treatment of obesity.

Methods: A systematic literature review with meta-analysis was performed. Electronic databases, reference lists, books and reports covering topic of obesity were searched.

Uncertainty in decision-making: value of additional information in the cost-effectiveness of lifestyle intervention in overweight and obese people.

Objectives: To quantify the uncertainty in the cost-effectiveness of lifestyle intervention versus standard care in overweight and obese people in Switzerland and to determine if further research is necessary based on current information. There has been an increasing interest in using value of information analysis in medical decision-making to quantify the uncertainty in decision-making, and to identify the need for further research.

Methods: Value of information analysis was applied on a probabilistic cost-effectiveness model to evaluate the uncertainty by calculating the patient expected value of perfect information (EVPI), population EVPI, and partial EVPI.

Validation of electronic data capture of the Irritable Bowel Syndrome--Quality of Life Measure, the Work Productivity and Activity Impairment Questionnaire for Irritable Bowel Syndrome and the EuroQol.

Objectives: To assess the comparability, reliability, and subject acceptability of electronic data capture (EDC) versions of Irritable Bowel Syndrome-Quality of Life (IBS-QOL), EuroQoL (EQ-5D) and Work Productivity and Activity Impairment (WPAI:IBS) instruments.

Methods: Comparability of EDC and paper questionnaires was evaluated in 72 subjects with IBS who completed a baseline EDC or paper questionnaire, a crossover questionnaire 24 hours later, and a retest of the crossover version at 1 week. The EDC version was presented on a hand-held device.