title: Cost-effectiveness of asthma therapy: a comprehensive review.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Asthma has an important impact in terms of both direct and indirect costs. In Europe, the disease costs € 19 000 million a year. Moreover, the cost is greater among patients with severe uncontrolled asthma and is even higher when the work productivity is also taken into account. Improved control of the disease results in cost savings. In this context, cost-effectiveness and cost-utility studies offer important information for clinicians in deciding the best treatment options for asthmatic patients and contribute to ensure an efficient use of the available healthcare resources.
  
  
  METHODS
  An English and Spanish literature search using electronic search engines (PubMed and EMBASE) was conducted in peer-review journals, from 2009 to June 2014. In order to perform the search for the most suitable and representative articles, key words were selected ("asthma", "cost-effectiveness", "cost-utility", "QALY", "cost-benefit", "economic impact of asthma" "healthcare cost", "asthma treatment" and "work productivity with asthma").
  
  
  RESULTS
  Two-hundred forty-three titles and abstracts were identified by the primary literature search. The full text of the potentially 76 eligible papers was reviewed, and 22 articles were qualified to be finally included.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This article provides a comprehensive review on the evidence of cost-effectiveness of asthma treatments derived from the published literature and offers an overall summary of the socioeconomic burden of asthma and its relationship with the degree of disease control. Management alternatives, such as the use of combination therapy with ICS/LABA or omalizumab, when administered according to their current therapeutic indications, have been shown to be cost-effective.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Allergy , Hospital La Paz Institute for Health Research (IdiPAZ) , Madrid , Spain.
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Domínguez-Ortega
authors.forename: Elsa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Phillips-Anglés
authors.forename: Pilar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Barranco
authors.forename: Santiago
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Quirce
mesh_terms: D018927:Anti-Asthmatic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000191:economics* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001249:Asthma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000191:economics* / Q000628:therapy; D001993:Bronchodilator Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000191:economics* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D017281:Cost of Illness; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003888:Desensitization, Immunologic / Q000191:economics; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D004526:Efficiency; D014943:Global Health; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006801:Humans; D019057:Quality-Adjusted Life Years; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
chemical_list: D018927:Anti-Asthmatic Agents; D001993:Bronchodilator Agents
keywords: Asthma treatment; QALY; cost-effectiveness; cost-utility; work productivity