Disregarding these method ological obstacles could implicitly lead to discrimination against the elderly in terms of health promotion and disease prevention and , hence , an age-based rationing of public health care
Background In the light of demographic developments health promotion interventions for older people are gaining importance .
In addition to method ological challenges arising from the economic evaluation of health promotion interventions in general , there are specific method ological problems for the particular target group of older people .
There are especially four main method ological challenges that are discussed in the literature .
They concern measurement and valuation of informal caregiving , accounting for productivity costs , effects of unrelated cost in added life years and the inclusion of ‘ beyond-health ’ benefits .
This paper focuses on the question whether and to what extent specific method ological requirements are actually met in applied health economic evaluations .
Costs and quality of life associated with osteoporosis-related fractures in Sweden
This prospect i ve observational data collection study assessed the cost and quality of life related to hip , vertebral and wrist fracture 1 year after the fracture , based on a patient sample consisting of 635 male and female patients surviving a year after fracture . Data regarding re source use and quality of life related to fractures was collected by question naires at baseline , 4 months and 12 months . Information was collected by the use of patients ’ records , register sources and by asking the patient . Quality of life was estimated with the EQ-5D question naire . Costs were estimated from a societal perspective , including direct and indirect costs . The mean fracture-related cost the year after a hip , vertebral and wrist fracture were estimated , in euros ( € ) , at € 14,221 , € 12,544 and € 2,147 , respectively [ converted from Swedish krona ( SEK ) at an exchange rate of 9.1268 SEK/€ ] . The mean reduction in quality of life was estimated at 0.17 , 0.26 and 0.06 for hip , vertebral and wrist fracture , respectively . Based on the results , the yearly burden of osteoporosis in Sweden could be estimated at € 0.5 billion ( SEK 4.6 billion ) . The patient sample for vertebral fracture was fairly small and included a high proportion of fractures leading to hospitalization , but they indicate a higher cost and loss of quality of life related to vertebral fracture than previously perceived
Disregarding these method ological obstacles could implicitly lead to discrimination against the elderly in terms of health promotion and disease prevention and , hence , an age-based rationing of public health care
Background In the light of demographic developments health promotion interventions for older people are gaining importance .
In addition to method ological challenges arising from the economic evaluation of health promotion interventions in general , there are specific method ological problems for the particular target group of older people .
There are especially four main method ological challenges that are discussed in the literature .
They concern measurement and valuation of informal caregiving , accounting for productivity costs , effects of unrelated cost in added life years and the inclusion of ‘ beyond-health ’ benefits .
This paper focuses on the question whether and to what extent specific method ological requirements are actually met in applied health economic evaluations .