A critical review of methods for the economic evaluation of fissure sealants.
Economic evaluation provides a method of systematically comparing the costs and outcomes of alternative health care programmes. It is being used increasingly to provide planning information. However, a review of the literature on economic evaluation of fissure sealants revealed a number of problems within studies. These included; the incorrect use of terms in labelling analyses, the choice of comparative procedures influencing the conclusions and equating different outcomes without regard for their disparate utilities. In addition, many studies did not report adjustment for differential timing of costs and consequences, or the use of incremental or sensitivity analyses. Future economic evaluations need to address these problems, in order that veracious information is supplied to decision-makers.
Lewis
J M
JM
School of Dental Science, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
Morgan
M V
MV
D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D006801:Humans; D017059:Models, Econometric; D010895:Pit and Fissure Sealants / Q000191:economics*; D011313:Preventive Dentistry / Q000191:economics*; D015397:Program Evaluation / Q000379:methods*; D012107:Research Design
D010895:Pit and Fissure Sealants