Self blood glucose monitoring in type 2 diabetes. A financial impact analysis based on UK primary care.

Background: UK consensus guidelines recommend limited use of self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) in patients with type 2 diabetes using diet and exercise, metformin and/or a glitazone. This analysis quantifies the usage of and costs associated with SMBG in type 2 diabetes according to treatment regimen.

Methods: Prevalence data for diabetes were assessed using UK Quality and Outcomes Framework returns for 2006/2007.

Assessing generalisability in model-based economic evaluation studies: a structured review in osteoporosis.

To support decision making, many countries have now introduced some formal assessment process to evaluate whether health technologies represent good 'value for money'. These often take the form of decision models that can be used to explore elements of importance to generalisability of study results across clinical settings and jurisdictions. The objective of this review was to assess whether articles reporting decision-analytic models in the area of osteoporosis provided enough information to enable decision makers in different countries/jurisdictions to fully appreciate the variability of results according to location and be able to apply the evaluation to their own setting.

Generalisability in economic evaluation studies in healthcare: a review and case studies.

Objectives: To review, and to develop further, the methods used to assess and to increase the generalisability of economic evaluation studies.

Data Sources: Electronic databases.

Review Methods: Methodological studies relating to economic evaluation in healthcare were searched.

Unit costs in international economic evaluations: resource costing of the Schizophrenia Outpatient Health Outcomes Study.

Objective: We present unit costs corresponding to resource information collected in the Schizophrenia Outpatient Health Outcomes (SOHO) Study.

Method: The SOHO study is a 3-year, prospective, observational study of health outcomes associated with antipsychotic treatment in out-patients treated for schizophrenia. The study is being conducted across 10 European countries (Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the UK) and includes over 10,800 patients and over 1000 investigators.

What is the place of beta-blockade in patients who have experienced a myocardial infarction with preserved left ventricular function? Evidence and (mis)interpretation.

Beta blockers have long been used in patients who have experienced a myocardial infarction. However, many new therapies are available for this patient group, and as a result, the current role of beta blockers may have become uncertain. In this article we address a series of questions related to the important and continuing role of beta blockade after myocardial infarction.