The Influence of Recall and Timing of Assessment on the Estimation of Quality-Adjusted Life-Years When Health Fluctuates Recurrently.

Objectives: When health fluctuates recurrently, estimating quality of life (QOL) is challenging, risking over-/underestimation due to measures' recall periods and timing. To inform how/when to capture QOL, we compared responses using different recall periods and assessment timings.

Methods: For one 3-week chemotherapy cycle, cancer patients were randomly assigned to complete EQ-5D-5L or SF-12v2 (daily with a daily recall, weekly with a weekly recall, and at 3 weeks with a 3-week recall); a third group completed SF-12v2 daily with a 3-week recall.

Systematic Review of Cost-Effectiveness Models in Prostate Cancer: Exploring New Developments in Testing and Diagnosis.

Objectives: Recent innovations in prostate cancer diagnosis include new biomarkers and more accurate biopsy methods. This study assesses the evidence base on cost-effectiveness of these developments (eg, Prostate Health Index and magnetic resonance imaging [MRI]-guided biopsy) and identifies areas of improvement for future cost-effectiveness models.

Methods: A systematic review using the National Health Service Economic Evaluation Database, MEDLINE, Embase, Health Technology Assessment databases, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines, and United Kingdom National Screening Committee guidance was performed, between 2009 and 2021.

Challenges in Using Recommended Quality of Life Measures to Assess Fluctuating Health: A Think-Aloud Study to Understand How Recall and Timing of Assessment Influence Patient Responses.

Background: It can be challenging to measure quality of life to calculate quality-adjusted life-years in recurrent fluctuating health states, as quality of life can constantly change. It is not clear how patients who experience fluctuations complete measures and how assessment timing and recall influence responses.

Objective: We aimed to understand how patients with fluctuating health complete widely recommended and commonly used measures (EQ-5D-5L, EORTC QLQ-C30 and SF-12) and the extent to which the recall period ('health today', 'past week' and 'past 4 weeks') and timing of assessment influence the way that patients complete these questionnaires.

Measuring capability wellbeing in adults at different stages of life for use in economic evaluation of health and care interventions: a qualitative investigation in people requiring kidney care.

Purpose: Capability wellbeing measures, such as the ICECAP measures, have been proposed for use in economic evaluations to capture broader outcomes of health and care interventions. The ICECAP measures have been developed to reflect capabilities at different stages of life. Some patient groups include patients of different ages and at different stages of life, so it is not always apparent which ICECAP measure is most relevant.

Using a Modified Delphi Approach to Gain Consensus on Relevant Comparators in a Cost-Effectiveness Model: Application to Prostate Cancer Screening.

Objective: Challenges can exist when framing the decision question in a cost-effectiveness analysis, particularly when there is disagreement among experts on relevant comparators. Using prostate cancer screening and recent developments in risk stratification, early-detection biomarkers, and diagnostic technologies as a case study, we report a modified Delphi approach to handle decision-question uncertainty.

Methods: The study involved two rounds of anonymous online questionnaires to identify the prostate cancer screening strategies that international researchers, clinicians and decision makers felt important to consider in a cost-effectiveness model.

Modelling the lifetime cost-effectiveness of radical prostatectomy, radiotherapy and active monitoring for men with clinically localised prostate cancer from median 10-year outcomes in the ProtecT randomised trial.

Background: Optimal management strategies for clinically localised prostate cancer are debated. Using median 10-year data from the largest randomised controlled trial to date (ProtecT), the lifetime cost-effectiveness of three major treatments (radical radiotherapy, radical prostatectomy and active monitoring) was explored according to age and risk subgroups.

Methods: A decision-analytic (Markov) model was developed and informed by clinical input.

Response process validity of three patient reported outcome measures for people requiring kidney care: a think-aloud study using the EQ-5D-5L, ICECAP-A and ICECAP-O.

Objectives: To determine the response process validity, feasibility of completion, acceptability and preferences for three patient-reported outcome measures that could be used in economic evaluation-the EQ-5D-5L, ICECAP-A and ICECAP-O-in people requiring kidney care.

Design: Participants were asked to 'think-aloud' while completing the EQ-5D-5L, ICECAP-A and ICECAP-O, followed by a semistructured interview. Five raters identified errors or struggles in completing the measures from the think-aloud component of the transcripts.

Measuring Quality-Adjusted Life-Years When Health Fluctuates.

Recurrent fluctuations in health states can occur as a result of long-term conditions with episodic symptoms or through side effects of cycles of treatment. Fluctuations and associated duration of symptoms can be predictable (eg, side effects of chemotherapy treatment) or unpredictable (eg, relapse in multiple sclerosis). Such recurrent fluctuations in health states can have an important impact on a person's health-related quality of life.

The criterion validity of willingness to pay methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis of the evidence.

Background: The contingent valuation (CV) method is used to estimate the willingness to pay (WTP) for services and products to inform cost benefit analyses (CBA). A long-standing criticism that stated WTP estimates may be poor indicators of actual WTP, calls into question their validity and the use of such estimates for welfare evaluation, especially in the health sector. Available evidence on the validity of CV studies so far is inconclusive.

The effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a complex community sport intervention to increase physical activity: an interrupted time series design.

Objectives: An effectiveness and cost-effectiveness analyses of two-staged community sports interventions; taster sports sessions compared with portfolio of community sport sessions.

Design: Quasi-experiment using an interrupted time series design.

Setting: Community sports projects delivered by eight lead partners in London Borough of Hounslow, UK.

Short-term and long-term cost-effectiveness of a pedometer-based exercise intervention in primary care: a within-trial analysis and beyond-trial modelling.

Objectives: A short-term and long-term cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) of two pedometer-based walking interventions compared with usual care.

Design: (A) Short-term CEA: parallel three-arm cluster randomised trial randomised by household. (B) Long-term CEA: Markov decision model.

A pedometer-based walking intervention in 45- to 75-year-olds, with and without practice nurse support: the PACE-UP three-arm cluster RCT.

Background: Guidelines recommend walking to increase moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) for health benefits.

Objectives: To assess the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and acceptability of a pedometer-based walking intervention in inactive adults, delivered postally or through dedicated practice nurse physical activity (PA) consultations.

Design: Parallel three-arm trial, cluster randomised by household.

Cost-effectiveness of prostate cancer screening: a systematic review of decision-analytical models.

Background: There is ongoing debate about the harms and benefits of a national prostate cancer screening programme. Several model-based cost-effectiveness analyses have been developed to determine whether the benefits of prostate cancer screening outweigh the costs and harms caused by over-detection and over-treatment, and the different approaches may impact results.

Methods: To identify models of prostate cancer used to assess the cost-effectiveness of prostate cancer screening strategies, a systematic review of articles published since 2006 was conducted using the NHS Economic Evaluation Database, Medline, EMBASE and HTA databases.

Erratum to: Methods for evaluating medical tests and biomarkers.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s41512-016-0001-y.].

Pharmaceutical treatments to prevent recurrence of endometriosis following surgery: a model-based economic evaluation.

Objective: Conduct an economic evaluation based on best currently available evidence comparing alternative treatments levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system, depot-medroxyprogesterone acetate, combined oral contraceptive pill (COCP) and 'no treatment' to prevent recurrence of endometriosis after conservative surgery in primary care, and to inform the design of a planned trial-based economic evaluation.

Methods: We developed a state transition (Markov) model with a 36-month follow-up. The model structure was informed by a pragmatic review and clinical experts.

Cluster randomised controlled trial of a financial incentive for mothers to improve breast feeding in areas with low breastfeeding rates: the NOSH study protocol.

Introduction: Breast feeding can promote positive long-term and short-term health outcomes in infant and mother. The UK has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates (duration and exclusivity) in the world, resulting in preventable morbidities and associated healthcare costs. Breastfeeding rates are also socially patterned, thereby potentially contributing to health inequalities.

Sensitivity to scale of willingness-to-pay within the context of menorrhagia.

Objectives: Willingness-to-pay (WTP) provides a broad assessment of well-being, capturing benefits beyond health. However, the validity of the approach has been questioned and the evidence relating to the sensitivity of WTP to changes in health status is mixed. Using menorrhagia (heavy menstrual bleeding) as a case study, this exploratory study assesses the sensitivity to scale of WTP to change in health status as measured by a condition-specific measure, MMAS, which includes both health and non-health benefits.

Systemic Chromosome Instability Resulted in Colonic Transcriptomic Changes in Metabolic, Proliferation, and Stem Cell Regulators in Sgo1-/+ Mice.

Colon cancer is the second most lethal cancer and is predicted to claim 49,700 lives in the United States this year. Chromosome instability (CIN) is observed in 80% to 90% of colon cancers and is thought to contribute to colon cancer progression and recurrence. To investigate the impact of CIN on colon cancer development, we developed shugoshin-1 (Sgo1) haploinsufficient (-/+) mice, an animal model focusing on mitotic error-induced CIN.

Homogenous Good Outcome in a Heterogeneous Group of Tumors: An Institutional Series of Outcomes of Superficial Soft Tissue Sarcomas.

Introduction. Superficial soft tissue sarcomas (S-STS) are generally amenable to wide excision. We hypothesized that local recurrence (LR) should be low, even without radiation therapy (RT), and sought to examine the contribution of depth to LR and OS.

A randomised controlled trial of the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system in primary care against standard treatment for menorrhagia: the ECLIPSE trial.

Background: Heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB) is a common problem, yet evidence to inform decisions about initial medical treatment is limited.

Objectives: To assess the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system (LNG-IUS) (Mirena®, Bayer) compared with usual medical treatment, with exploration of women's perspectives on treatment.

Design: A pragmatic, multicentre randomised trial with an economic evaluation and a longitudinal qualitative study.

Exploring the Use of Cost-Benefit Analysis to Compare Pharmaceutical Treatments for Menorrhagia.

Background: The extra-welfarist theoretical framework tends to focus on health-related quality of life, whilst the welfarist framework captures a wider notion of well-being. EQ-5D and SF-6D are commonly used to value outcomes in chronic conditions with episodic symptoms, such as heavy menstrual bleeding (clinically termed menorrhagia). Because of their narrow-health focus and the condition's periodic nature these measures may be unsuitable.