Glob Reg Health Technol Assess
November 2024
Background: The worldwide prevalence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is increasing, with its potential evolution as a global disease and a consequent increase in its burden on healthcare systems. These estimates do not factor in the 'real' price of IBD, which, beyond curbing career aspirations, instilling social stigma, and impairing the quality of life in patients, could also significantly affect the environment.
Aim: To highlight potential areas for intervention and develop management strategies aimed at minimising environmental impacts in the field of IBD over time.
Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD)-associated pruritus is a condition that strongly impacts CKD patients and is associated with increased morbidity/mortality, and worse health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Difelikefalin is currently the only drug approved in Europe specifically for treating moderate to severe CKD-associated pruritus in patients undergoing hemodialysis. The KALM-1 and KALM-2 trials showed better efficacy of difelikefalin vs placebo and best supportive care.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAims: The intricate connections between health and the environment are often overlooked globally, yet they play a pivotal role in shaping our well-being.
Results: Astonishingly, environmental risk factors contribute to nearly 24% of the global disease burden, underscoring the critical impact of our surroundings on health. At the crossroads of this issue lies Diabetes, a rapidly growing non-communicable disease that highlights the delicate balance between human health and environmental sustainability.
Background: Within many advanced healthcare systems, patient advocacy associations are gaining a more relevant role in healthcare policy decisions. These associations provide help, representation, and voice to patients and citizens. However, although their role is important, a paucity of research exists analyzing their foundation dynamics, including their organizational decision, from a managerial perspective.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Over 20% of healthcare workers (HCWs) are active smokers. Smoking is a targeted issue for workplace health promotion (WHP) programs.
Objective: Our study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the Stop Smoking Promotion (SSP) intervention, a 6-hour training course for HCWs, which took place from May 2018 to July 2019.
Background: Chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML) is a pathological clinical condition with a yearly incidence between 10 and 15 cases per million people, 14 in Italy. Its incidence increases with age, reaching 20-25 yearly cases per million individuals in people over 70 years. A growing importance has been given to the need of a multidisciplinary approach (MDA) for the management of patients with CML.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: rVIII-SingleChain, a recombinant factor VIII (rFVIII), has demonstrated safety and efficacy in patients with hemophilia A in clinical trials and real-world evidence. This analysis aimed to estimate the potential budget impact of increasing the usage of rVIII-SingleChain for the prophylactic treatment of hemophilia A over 3 years in Italy.
Methods: Patients with moderate and severe hemophilia A receiving prophylaxis were included in the analysis.
Int J Technol Assess Health Care
March 2023
Objectives: The objective of the present policy analysis was to understand how a disinvestment approach to the process of health technology assessment (HTA), applied to the field of medical devices, might help Italian policymakers to properly spend the resources in healthcare.
Methods: Previous international and national experiences in disinvestment for medical devices were reviewed. Precious insights for the rational expenditure of the resources were derived by assessing the evidence available.
Next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology, changing the diagnostic approach, has become essential in clinical settings, and its adoption by public health laboratories is now the practice. Despite this, as technological innovations, its intake requires an evaluation of both the clinical utility and the economic investment, especially considering the rare disease scenario. This study evaluated the analytical validity and the budget impact of an NGS-Ion Torrent™ approach for the molecular germline diagnosis of two musculoskeletal rare diseases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the first cause of cancer-related death among men and the second among women worldwide. It also poses an economic threat to the sustainability of healthcare services. This study estimated the direct costs of care for patients with NSCLC by stage at diagnosis, and management phase of pathway recommended in local and international guidelines.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe progressive ageing of the working population and the increase in related chronic diseases tend to affect working capacity. The aim of this study was to evaluate a Workplace Disability Management Program (WDMP) within a pediatric hospital. Absenteeism due to healthcare workers' (HCWs) pre- and post- WDMP and the related costs were used for the program evaluation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Technol Assess Health Care
April 2020
Objectives: When assessing the economic value of vaccines, decision makers should adopt a full societal perspective. One approach for estimation of the fiscal impact of a disease is to use the human capital method to determine productivity losses. The aim of this study was to test an analytical framework developed for the estimation of the fiscal impacts of vaccination programs for influenza (FLU), pneumococcus (PC), and herpes zoster (HZ), in Italy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Postoperative complications and length of hospital stay (LOS) are major issues and affect hospital costs. Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocols are effective in reducing morbidity and LOS after major surgery. We propose a nutritional protocol within ERAS programs in colorectal surgery, starting from preadmission.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Hepatitis C is a liver infection caused by hepatitis C virus. Its main complications are cirrhosis and liver cancer. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 185 million people worldwide are infected with hepatitis C virus and, of these, 350,000 die every year.
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