An alternative assessment approach to national higher education system evaluation.

While the assessment of higher education systems is informative to both policy makers and individuals, it is subjective and performed according to experts' judgment. The present study proposes a relatively objective approach, hierarchical data envelopment analysis (H-DEA), to rank higher education systems. Unlike the subjective approach, H-DEA utilizes endogenous weight determination, allowing assessors to identify the relative importance of each attribute and subattribute.

Cost-effectiveness of 'Program We Care' for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A case-control study.

Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of a discharge program for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients on discharge from an emergency medical ward on discharge home rate, hospital length of stay (LOS), inpatient admission rate and cost.

Background: Frequent visits to the emergency department (ED) and subsequent hospital admission are common among patients with COPD, which adds a burden to ED and hospital care. A discharge program was implemented in an ED emergency medical ward.

Hospital-based study of the economic burden associated with rotavirus diarrhea in Hong Kong.

Background: Rotavirus infection is the most common cause of severe diarrhea in both developed and developing countries.

Methods: To estimate the economic burden associated with rotavirus infection in Hong Kong, we combined data on the disease burden of rotavirus-associated hospital admissions with detailed cost data for a subsample of 471 children with diarrhea admitted to hospitals.

Results: The annual total social cost and total direct medical cost for rotavirus-associated admissions were calculated as 4.

Labour force participation among individuals with hepatitis C in the US.

Background: In 1996, the number of persons newly infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) in the US was estimated to be 36 000. As a chronic disease that primarily affects younger persons, hepatitis C has the potential to influence employment considerably.

Objective: To estimate employment effects associated with hepatitis C morbidity.

The impact of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease on work loss in the United States.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a rapidly growing public health problem in the United States and elsewhere. Although direct costs of COPD are well documented, the impact of COPD and its severity on labor force participation is not well known. Using population-based data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III), we determined the adjusted relationship between COPD (and its severity) and labor force participation in the U.