title: Economic evidence for the prevention and treatment of atopic eczema: a protocol for a systematic review.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Eczema, synonymous with atopic eczema or atopic dermatitis, is a chronic skin disease that has a similar impact on health-related quality of life as other chronic diseases. The proposed research aims to provide a comprehensive systematic assessment of the economic evidence base available to inform economic modelling and decision making on interventions to prevent and treat eczema at any stage of the life course. Whilst the Global Resource of Eczema Trials (GREAT) database collects together the effectiveness evidence for eczema, there is currently no such systematic resource on the economics of eczema. It is important to gain an overview of the current state of the art of economic methods in the field of eczema in order to strengthen the economic evidence base further.
  
  
  METHODS
  The proposed study is a systematic review of the economic evidence surrounding interventions for the prevention and treatment of eczema. Relevant search terms will be used to search MEDLINE, EMBASE, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, National Health Service (NHS) Economic Evaluation Database, Health Technology Assessment, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, EconLit, Scopus, Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Registry and Web of Science in order to identify relevant evidence. To be eligible for inclusion studies will be primary empirical studies evaluating the cost, utility or full economic evaluation of interventions for preventing or treating eczema. Two reviewers will independently assess studies for eligibility and perform data abstraction. Evidence tables will be produced presenting details of study characteristics, costing methods, outcome methods and quality assessment. The methodological quality of studies will be assessed using accepted checklists.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The systematic review is being undertaken to identify the type of economic evidence available, summarise the results of the available economic evidence and critically appraise the quality of economic evidence currently available to inform future economic modelling and resource allocation decisions about interventions to prevent or treat eczema. We aim to use the review to offer guidance about how to gather economic evidence in studies of eczema and/or what further research is necessary in order to inform this.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  PROSPERO CRD42015024633.
authors.affiliation: Health Economics Group, Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK. T.Sach@uea.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Tracey Helen
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Sach
authors.affiliation: Health Economics Group, Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK.
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: McManus
authors.affiliation: Health Economics Group, Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mcmonagle
authors.affiliation: Dermatology Department, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Colney Lane, Norwich, NR4 7UY, UK.
authors.forename: Nick
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Levell
mesh_terms: D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003657:Decision Making; D003876:Dermatitis, Atopic / Q000191:economics / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000628:therapy; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D018803:Models, Economic; D011788:Quality of Life; D019057:Quality-Adjusted Life Years; D000078202:Systematic Reviews as Topic
keywords: Cost effectiveness; Costs; Economics; Eczema; Health-related quality of life