title: Cost-effectiveness analysis of interventions for congenital heart disease.
abstract: Expansion of the options available for the treatment of congenital heart disease has been accompanied by an increasing realization of the limits of our available health care resources. Cost-effectiveness analysis is one of several analytic approaches that can improve decisions about the appropriate use of technology in interventional pediatric cardiology and other fields. In this article, cost-effectiveness analysis is distinguished from related approaches, such as cost-benefit analysis. Then, basic principles of cost-effectiveness analysis are described. Next, the application of these principles is illustrated, using a recently published comparison of transcatheter versus surgical closure of patent ductus arteriosus. Finally, potential research implications of the surprising findings of this study are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Section of Clinical Epidemiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota 55905, USA.
authors.forename: D T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Gray
mesh_terms: D006328:Cardiac Catheterization / Q000191:economics*; D002648:Child; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000191:economics* / Q000601:surgery / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant