title: What is cost-effectiveness analysis?
abstract: The treatment of mild-to-moderate hypertension is used to illustrate the role of cost-effectiveness analysis in assessing the economic efficiency of pharmacological interventions. The reasons why it is important to consider economic efficiency are discussed, after which the major issues involved in conducting a cost-effectiveness analysis are outlined. Attention is focused on the relative merits of measuring benefits in terms of intermediate and final outcome indicators, and the concept of marginal cost-effectiveness analysis is introduced. Although some difficulties arise, cost-effectiveness analysis is a potentially powerful guide for decisions about the allocation of scarce resources.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Newcastle, Shortland, NSW.
authors.forename: D B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Evans
mesh_terms: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001315:Australia; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D003659:Decision Making, Organizational; D004358:Drug Therapy / Q000191:economics* / Q000592:standards; D004526:Efficiency; D015276:Health Care Rationing; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000191:economics* / Q000523:psychology; D011788:Quality of Life; D026712:Value of Life
chemical_list: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents