title: The cost-effectiveness of maintenance therapy for duodenal ulceration with an H2-antagonist.
abstract: Data from several sources are used to quantify the expected direct medical costs of a recently healed duodenal ulcer patient prescribed an H2-antagonist (famotidine) for a 6-month period. These costs are compared to the expected direct medical costs associated with not using maintenance therapy. Our results indicate that the estimated direct cost of patients prescribed a 6-month regimen of an H2-antagonist (famotidine) is 30.3% lower than patients who receive no H2-antagonist therapy. Most of the savings result from a reduced risk of hospitalization and surgery. The results of the sensitivity analysis of four varying scenarios indicate that H2-antagonist maintenance therapy remains less costly even when the assumptions underlying the model are varied enormously. We conclude that the decision to withhold maintenance therapy with H2-antagonists should not be based on economics.
authors.affiliation: Center for Economic Studies in Medicine, Pracon Incorporated, Reston, Virginia 22091.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fox
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Morton
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jacobs
mesh_terms: D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D004381:Duodenal Ulcer / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000191:economics; D015738:Famotidine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006635:Histamine H2 Antagonists / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D006635:Histamine H2 Antagonists; D015738:Famotidine