Discounting in economic evaluation of healthcare interventions: what about the risk term?

Results from economic evaluations of long-term outcomes are strongly dependent on the chosen discount rate. A recent review of national guidelines for evaluation of healthcare interventions finds that "the level of currently used discount rates seems relatively high in many countries". However, this conclusion comes from a comparison to rates derived or observed for investments in safe assets, while rate of return requirements are typically considerably higher when investment involves risk.

Economic Return on Investment of Parent Training Programmes for the Prevention of Child Externalising Behaviour Problems.

Economic models to inform decision-making are gaining popularity, especially for preventive interventions. However, there are few estimates of the long-term returns to parenting interventions used to prevent mental health problems in children. Using data from a randomised controlled trial evaluating five indicated parenting interventions for parents of children aged 5-12, we modeled the economic returns resulting from reduced costs in the health care and education sector, and increased long-term productivity in a Swedish setting.

Dread and Risk Elimination Premium for the Value of a Statistical Life.

The value of a statistical life (VSL) is a widely used measure for the value of mortality risk reduction. As VSL should reflect preferences and attitudes to risk, there are reasons to believe that it varies depending on the type of risk involved. It has been argued that cancer should be considered a "dread disease," which supports the use of a "cancer premium.

The value of a statistical life in Sweden: a review of the empirical literature.

Recent focus on cost-benefit/socio-economic assessment of government "life-saving" programmes within public health, pharmaceutics, transport, and civil contingencies has spurred a wave of empirical research on the value of a statistical life (VSL) in Sweden. This paper provides an overview of the received evidence from a range of studies in one country and over a relatively short time period. A literature search was conducted in Econlit, Pubmed, Google Scholar and in bibliographies of published papers.