Patient-centred endpoints in economic evaluations of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease.
OBJECTIVE
To perform a systematic review of the economic literature on gastro-oesophageal reflux disease to evaluate (a) the use of patient-centred effectiveness end-points, or (b) the use of patient-centred economic end-points, and the influence of these end-points on the outcome of the model.


METHODS
Three electronic databases (EMBASE, BIOSIS and Medline) were used, together with a manual search of meeting abstracts for relevant articles. The quality of the studies was determined by the Drummond criteria.


RESULTS
Our initial search identified 179 articles and a manual search revealed 78 abstracts and articles. A total of 47 studies (36 fully published articles and 11 abstracts) met the seven Drummond criteria for inclusion in our evaluation.


CONCLUSIONS
This systematic review demonstrates that many of the published economic evaluations available today take the perspective of the third-party payer and focus on pharmaceutical costs relevant to the third-party payer. Our study also demonstrates that there are a number of costs of illness determinations, such that pharmaceutical costs account for only a small proportion of the total costs of managing gastro-oesophageal reflux disease. Future economic analyses should consider an evaluation of the patient's desire for complete symptom relief by including cost-utility assessments or willingness to pay data.
Division of Gastroenterology, University of Wisconsin Medical School, Milwauke, WI 53233, USA. nvakil@facstaff.wisc.edu
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Vakil
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Rydén-Bergsten
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Bergenheim
D017281:Cost of Illness; D004945:Esophagoscopy; D005764:Gastroesophageal Reflux / Q000191:economics* / Q000628:therapy; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006801:Humans; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000191:economics; D016896:Treatment Outcome