Ferric carboxymaltose for patients with heart failure and iron deficiency in Italy: cost-effectiveness and budget impact.

To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of intravenous ferric carboxymaltose (FCM) versus placebo for the management of iron deficiency in patients with chronic heart failure in the Italian healthcare system and to estimate its impact on the national healthcare budget. A Markov model was developed to project costs and health outcomes over 1 year, based on data from literature. Healthcare resources consumption was derived from an e-survey administered to clinicians.

Timing of onset affects arthritis presentation pattern in antisyntethase syndrome.

Objectives: To evaluate if the timing of appearance with respect to disease onset may influence the arthritis presentation pattern in antisynthetase syndrome (ASSD).

Methods: The patients were selected from a retrospective large international cohort of ASSD patients regularly followed-up in centres referring to AENEAS collaborative group. Patients were eligible if they had an antisynthetase antibody testing positive in at least two determinations along with arthritis occurring either at ASSD onset (Group 1) or during the course of the disease (Group 2).

Cost of care and social consequences of very low birth weight infants without premature- related morbidities in Italy.

Aim of this study was to estimate the cost that is borne by the Italian National Health Service, families, and social security due to very low birth weight infants (VLBWIs) without prematurity-related morbidities up to the age of 18 months. We followed up on 150 VLBWIs and 145 comparable full-term infants (FTIs) who were born in one of 25 different neonatal intensive care units upon discharge from the hospital and at six and 18 months of age. The average length of the primary hospitalisation of the VLBWIs was 59.

Economic impact of multiple sclerosis in Italy: focus on rehabilitation costs.

The study estimates the cost of multiple sclerosis (MS) in Italy quantifying the impact of the rehabilitation on cost of illness. Patients with MS were enrolled at MS clinical centres, in rehabilitation units and among members with MS of the Italian MS Society across the Italy. The MS costs were captured with a questionnaire and were estimated taking into account both healthcare and non-healthcare costs as well as the productivity losses.

Cost-effectiveness and cost-utility of beclomethasone/formoterol versus fluticasone propionate/salmeterol in patients with moderate to severe asthma.

Background: Asthma is a chronic disease characterized by acute symptomatic episodes with variable severity and duration. Pharmacological asthma management aims to achieve and maintain control without side effects, thus improving quality of life and reducing the economic impact. Recently, a clinical trial showed the non-inferiority of beclomethasone/formoterol (BDP/F) versus fluticasone propionate/salmeterol (FP/S) in adults with moderate to severe persistent asthma.

The interplay between policy guidelines and local dynamics in shaping the scope of networks: the experience of the Italian Departments of Mental Health.

In the mental health field, the creation of networks that can guarantee the smooth coordination of services and organizations across sectors is a priority in the policy agenda of several countries. In Italy, Departments of Mental Health (DMHs) have been designated responsible for the system of specialist mental health services, and also mandated as the conveners and leaders of interorganizational and cross-sectoral networks, by a system-wide reform. This study aims to understand how mental health networks have been assembled in this context and the factors and motivations that have shaped their scope.

Cost utility analysis of knee prosthesis with complete microprocessor control (C-leg) compared with mechanical technology in trans-femoral amputees.

The study determines the cost-utility of a unilateral electronic knee prosthesis (C-leg) compared to mechanical alternatives in trans-femoral amputees. For each type of prosthesis, 50 patients, treated in a major Italian centre, were enrolled. Quality adjusted life years (QALYs) were estimated from responses to EuroQol (EQ-5D).

Poor control increases the economic cost of asthma. A multicentre population-based study.

Background/aims: Up to now, few cost-of-illness (COI) studies have estimated the cost of adult asthma at an individual level on general population samples. We sought to evaluate the cost of current asthma from the societal perspective in young Italian adults and the determinants of cost variation.

Methods: In 2000, a COI study was carried out in the frame of the Italian Study on Asthma in Young Adults on 527 current asthmatics (20-44 years) screened out of 15,591 subjects from the general population in seven centres.

Use of polylactic acid implants to correct facial lipoatrophy in human immunodeficiency virus 1-positive individuals receiving combination antiretroviral therapy.

Objective: To assess the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of facial injections of polylactic acid for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) 1-associated facial lipoatrophy, which commonly affects HIV-1-infected patients receiving combination antiretroviral therapy.

Design: A cohort of 50 consecutive HIV-1-infected outpatients with moderate to severe facial lipoatrophy who were receiving antiretroviral therapy were recruited in one institutional center and followed up for 12 months. Patients received the compound subcutaneously at baseline and on days 30, 45, and 60 of the study, for a total of 4 sets of injections; if necessary, 2 additional sets of injections were allowed on days 75 and 90.

The economic burden of stroke in Italy. The EcLIPSE Study: Economic Longitudinal Incidence-based Project for Stroke Evaluation.

Stroke is the second most common cause of death in the world. The aim of this study is to estimate stroke's direct costs and productivity losses in Italy from a societal perspective and to explain cost variability. A prospective observational multicentre cost of illness study was designed.

Cost-utility of inhaled corticosteroids in patients with moderate-to-severe asthma.

Different inhaled corticosteroids can be used to treat asthma but their relative efficacy on quality of life and relative economic impact are mostly unknown. A decision model compared the cost-utility of beclomethasone, beclomethasone-extrafine, fluticasone and budesonide in adult patients with either moderate or severe persistent asthma. The patients' health state was described by the Asthma Symptom Utility Index.

Economic benefit from clinical practice guideline compliance in stroke patient management.

Background And Purpose: In a previous study we showed that compliance with evidence-based guidelines improves the health outcome of stroke patients in terms of both survival and residual disability. In this analysis, we shall investigate the impact of such guidelines on healthcare costs during the acute/sub-acute hospitalisation phase.

Method: we considered the direct costs from the hospital's point of view, where funding is provided by the National Healthcare System.

[Costs and outcome of care in subjects with severe mental disorders].

Objective: The objectives of the paper are the following: i) to describe the activities and the costs of care for patients with severe mental disorders; ii) to evaluate the association between costs, clients' characteristics and outcome measures.

Methods: Patients were administered the following instruments twice a year: BPRS, GAF, HoNOS, DAS II, VSSS-54, QPF. Use of psychiatric services and other resources were collected for each patient over a two-year period.

Service utilisation and costs of first-contact patients in a community psychiatric service in Italy.

This study describes service utilisation under routine clinical activity and the costs of providing mental health care for 24 months for the whole population of 330 subjects who had first contact with the Magenta Community Mental Health Centre during one year. The mean age of patients was 42.5 years, and 61% were females.

A multicenter cost-of-illness study on rheumatoid arthritis in Italy.

Objective: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic and disabling disease frequently leading to physical and psychological dependence, with considerable economic consequences. The aim of our study was to perform a cost-of-illness analysis for RA according to the four different levels of functional RA severity.

Methods: Direct costs (hospitalisations, treatments, diagnostics and the non-medical costs), indirect costs (productivity losses and informal care), and intangible costs (deterioration in the quality of life of patients, their families and friends assessed by the Medical Outcome Survey Short Form and the Stanford Health Assessment Questionnaire) were measured in 200 RA patients.

The costs of multiple sclerosis: a cross-sectional, multicenter cost-of-illness study in Italy.

Objectives: To estimate the socio-economic impact of multiple sclerosis (MS) in Italy.

Methods: Outpatients with MS were enrolled at 44 centres across Italy. Socio-demographic, clinical and resource utilization data were collected using a validated questionnaire.

Direct and indirect costs of schizophrenia in community psychiatric services in Italy. The GISIES study. Interdisciplinary Study Group on the Economic Impact of Schizophrenia.

Background: The present work is a cost-of-illness (COI) study that aims at assessing total direct and indirect costs of schizophrenic patients in community psychiatric services in Italy and identifying the variables that influence costs.

Methods: A retrospective prevalence-based multi-centre COI study, was designed. Ten community mental health centres (CMHC) were involved and 100 patients were recruited.

The costs of pharmacological treatment for major depression. The Italian Prospective Multicentre Observational Incidence-Based Study.

Objective: To describe the pharmacological treatment for major depression under the conditions of routine Italian public mental health facilities, assess its costs, and study its main predictors according to a societal perspective.

Design: This was a prospective multicentre observational study designed to evaluate the economics of treatment of major depression using a specifically designed 65-item questionnaire. Data on drug consumption were collected in a section of the questionnaire and are presented here.

Psychological distress and its correlates in secondary school students in Pavia, Italy.

Adolescence is a time of social as well as biological transition; nevertheless, there are very few epidemiological studies in this field in Italy. Therefore, we felt it would be useful to conduct a cross-sectional study on a sample of 1346 adolescents aged 14-19 years attending high schools in the Health Authority Area of Pavia (northern Italy) through a multi-dimensional approach, taking into consideration physical and psychological health, life habits, family environment and social life of teen-agers. We used a structured self-administered questionnaire consisting of 264 question items to achieve the study aim, which was to find the variables (among personal data, scholastic, family, relational characteristics and habits) correlated with psychological distress.