title: Analysis, sample size, and power for estimating incremental net health benefit from clinical trial data.
abstract: Stinnett and Mullahy recently introduced the concept of net health benefit as an alternative to cost-effectiveness ratios for the statistical analysis of patient-level data on the costs and health effects of competing interventions. Net health benefit addresses a number of problems associated with cost-effectiveness ratios by assuming a value for the willingness-to-pay for a unit of effectiveness. We extend the concept of net health benefit to demonstrate that standard statistical procedures can be used for the analysis, power, and sample size determinations of cost-effectiveness data. We also show that by varying the value of the willingness-to-pay, the point estimate and confidence interval for the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio can be determined. An example is provided.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McMaster University, and The Centre for Evaluation of Medicines, St. Joseph's Hospital, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. willana@mcmaster.ca
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Willan
mesh_terms: D001699:Biometry; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000191:economics*; D019057:Quality-Adjusted Life Years; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D018401:Sample Size