title: Systematic overview of economic evaluations of health-related rehabilitation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Health related rehabilitation is instrumental in improving functioning and promoting participation by people with disabilities. To make clinical and policy decisions about health-related rehabilitation, resource allocation and cost issues need to be considered.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To provide an overview of systematic reviews (SRs) on economic evaluations of health-related rehabilitation.
  
  
  METHODS
  We searched multiple databases to identify relevant SRs of economic evaluations of health-related rehabilitation. Review quality was assessed by AMSTAR checklist.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We included 64 SRs, most of which included economic evaluations alongside randomized controlled trials (RCTs). The review quality was low to moderate (AMSTAR score 5-8) in 35, and high (score 9-11) in 29 of the included SRs. The included SRs addressed various health conditions, including spinal or other pain conditions (n = 14), age-related problems (11), stroke (7), musculoskeletal disorders (6), heart diseases (4), pulmonary (3), mental health problems (3), and injury (3). Physiotherapy was the most commonly evaluated rehabilitation intervention in the included SRs (n = 24). Other commonly evaluated interventions included multidisciplinary programmes (14); behavioral, educational or psychological interventions (11); home-based interventions (11); complementary therapy (6); self-management (6); and occupational therapy (4).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although the available evidence is often described as limited, inconsistent or inconclusive, some rehabilitation interventions were cost-effective or showed cost-saving in a variety of disability conditions. Available evidence comes predominantly from high income countries, therefore economic evaluations of health-related rehabilitation are urgently required in less resourced settings.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Howard-Wilsher
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Irvine
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, PR China.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shakespeare
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK; Centre for Health Economics, University of York, York, UK.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Suhrcke
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Horton
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.
authors.forename: Fiona
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Poland
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.
authors.forename: Lee
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hooper
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK. Electronic address: Fujian.song@uea.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Fujian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Song
mesh_terms: D000072038:Cardiac Rehabilitation; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000191:economics* / Q000379:methods; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000534:rehabilitation; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities / Q000191:economics
keywords: Cost-effectiveness; Economic evaluation; Health-related rehabilitation; Systematic review