These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed


  • Title: Cost-effectiveness of salmeterol, fluticasone, and combination therapy for COPD.
    Author: Oba Y.
    Journal: Am J Manag Care; 2009 Apr; 15(4):226-32. PubMed ID: 19355795.
    Abstract:
    OBJECTIVE: To assess the incremental cost-effectiveness of inhaled medication use in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). STUDY DESIGN: A Markov model was constructed to estimate the incremental quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) gained of the alternative treatment arms used in the Towards a Revolution in COPD Health (TORCH) study (ie, salmeterol-fluticasone propionate combination [SFC], salmeterol, fluticasone, and placebo). METHODS: The cycle length for the model was set to 3 months, and the maximum time horizon was set to 3 years. The cost-effective analysis was conducted from a third-party payer's perspective in the US healthcare system. Future costs and effects were discounted at 3%. Multiple 1-way sensitivity analyses and a probabilistic sensitivity analysis using Monte Carlo simulation were performed to handle uncertainty. RESULTS: The most cost-effective strategies are placebo (as-needed short-acting bronchodilator use with no maintenance therapy) when willingness to pay (WTP) is less than $52,800/QALY gained and SFC when WTP exceeds that threshold. When no maintenance therapy is not an acceptable option, the most cost-effective strategies are treatment with salmeterol when WTP is less than $49,500/QALY gained and treatment with SFC when WTP exceeds that threshold. The base-case analysis showed that incremental cost-effectiveness ratios of salmeterol, fluticasone, and SFC relative to placebo were $56,519, $62,833, and $52,046/QALY gained, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The most cost-effective strategy in moderate-to-severe COPD depends on how much society is willing to pay to achieve health improvements. When treatment with as-needed short-acting bronchodilator use does not provide adequate control, salmeterol or SFC would be the drug of choice depending on WTP.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]