Invasive meningococcal disease epidemiology and control measures: a framework for evaluation.

Background: Meningococcal disease can have devastating consequences. As new vaccines emerge, it is necessary to assess their impact on public health. In the absence of long-term real world data, modeling the effects of different vaccination strategies is required.

Pharmacological management of overactive bladder : a systematic and critical review of published economic evaluations.

Overactive bladder is a common condition, with recent findings estimating the prevalence in adults at about 15%. Symptoms, including urinary urgency, high voiding frequency and urge incontinence, have been shown to decrease patients' quality of life. Given its high prevalence, the economic burden of overactive bladder is also substantial, with a recent estimate placing the annual cost in the US at 9.

Assessing the economics of vaccination for Neisseria meningitidis in industrialized nations: a review and recommendations for further research.

Objectives: To review the existing health economic literature on meningococcal disease vaccination.

Methods: A Medline search for economic evaluations of vaccination programs for meningococcal disease in developed countries was conducted. All identified studies were reviewed.

Comparing medications in a therapeutic area using an NNT model.

Objectives: Clinicians are told to use the number needed to treat (NNT) to compare the benefits of therapeutic strategies, and researchers are asked to report results this way, generally without considering differences among the studies from which these were derived.

Methods: The crude NNT currently advocated is compared to the NNT standardized for a common outcome, follow-up time, study population and comparator. An NNT model for cardiovascular disease is described as an example that addresses differences among studies of secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease.

Cost effectiveness of tinzaparin sodium versus unfractionated heparin in the treatment of proximal deep vein thrombosis.

Objective: To evaluate economic and health implications of tinzaparin sodium, a once a day low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH), versus unfractionated heparin (UFH) in the treatment of acute deep vein thrombosis (DVT) from a US healthcare payer perspective.

Study Design: An economic model, composed of two submodules, was created: A short-term module based on clinical trial data covering the first 3 months and a long-term module that projects trial results based on published data for up to 50 years.

Methods: Clinical trial results were combined with data from long-term follow-up studies of DVT in a model that estimates the health and economic consequences of treatment.