An economic evaluation of antihypertensive therapies based on clinical trials.

Objective: Hypertension is a major issue in public health, and the financial costs associated with hypertension continue to increase. Cost-effectiveness studies focusing on antihypertensive drug combinations, however, have been scarce. The cost-effectiveness ratios of the traditional treatment (hydrochlorothiazide and atenolol) and the current treatment (losartan and amlodipine) were evaluated in patients with grade 1 or 2 hypertension (HT1-2).

[Cost analysis of the treatment of acute decompensated heart failure. Levosimendan versus dobutamine].

Objective: To assess whether the treatment with levosimendan is more expensive than the usual one with dobutamine, since price of medications does not usually represent the greatest expense in the treatment of cardiac decompensation.

Methods: The cost of treatment of 18 inpatients with cardiac decompensation, 9 of which treated with dobutamine (dobuta group) and 9 with levosimendan (levo group), was compared. Groups were similar concerning age, sex, functional class and cardiac function.