BACKGROUND: Cerebral palsy involving spasticity is a highly handicapping illness, especially among children, the treatment of which is limited to reducing the handicaps involved without any full cure. There is a drug treatment which affords the possibility of providing patients with a better quality of life, regarding which a cost effectiveness analysis is made, note being made of the individual achievements and social benefits. METHODS: This analysis is based on nationwide information from Mexico which was obtained from secondary sources. The base data is set out within the framework of trends in the growth of this health problem, and the calculations affording the possibility of sizing up this problem are employed in order to ascertain the benefits thereof based on the following indicators: relative impact of this disease and years of healthy life lost and gained, based on which the social and economic benefit entailed in the drug treatment under analysis is estimated. RESULTS: The data reveals that the drug treatment in question is directly beneficial, because it lowers the relative impact of this disease from 0.92 to 0.40. At the individual level, the greatest benefit takes the form of the improved quality of life among the afflicted children within the 6-12 age range, they having gone from 0.08 years to 0.60 years of life in terms of quality. At the nationwide level, the 595,817 years of healthy life which would be lost without any treatment would be recouped. The monetary value involved in this treatment is that of 2,725.00 Mexican pesos (US $283.00) for administering the drug over a one-year period to each child suffering from this disability. CONCLUSIONS: This is a low-cost treatment, because it is currently impossible to reverse the neurological and physiological processes of cerebral palsy, this treatment therefore improving the quality of life of the children afflicted with this disease is the best possible benefit. The cost effectiveness analysis taking into account these indicators reveals a clear-cut relationship between the monetary values and the health benefits.
BACKGROUND:Cerebral palsy involving spasticity is a highly handicapping illness, especially among children, the treatment of which is limited to reducing the handicaps involved without any full cure. There is a drug treatment which affords the possibility of providing patients with a better quality of life, regarding which a cost effectiveness analysis is made, note being made of the individual achievements and social benefits. METHODS: This analysis is based on nationwide information from Mexico which was obtained from secondary sources. The base data is set out within the framework of trends in the growth of this health problem, and the calculations affording the possibility of sizing up this problem are employed in order to ascertain the benefits thereof based on the following indicators: relative impact of this disease and years of healthy life lost and gained, based on which the social and economic benefit entailed in the drug treatment under analysis is estimated. RESULTS: The data reveals that the drug treatment in question is directly beneficial, because it lowers the relative impact of this disease from 0.92 to 0.40. At the individual level, the greatest benefit takes the form of the improved quality of life among the afflicted children within the 6-12 age range, they having gone from 0.08 years to 0.60 years of life in terms of quality. At the nationwide level, the 595,817 years of healthy life which would be lost without any treatment would be recouped. The monetary value involved in this treatment is that of 2,725.00 Mexican pesos (US $283.00) for administering the drug over a one-year period to each child suffering from this disability. CONCLUSIONS: This is a low-cost treatment, because it is currently impossible to reverse the neurological and physiological processes of cerebral palsy, this treatment therefore improving the quality of life of the children afflicted with this disease is the best possible benefit. The cost effectiveness analysis taking into account these indicators reveals a clear-cut relationship between the monetary values and the health benefits.
Authors: Francis J Ruiz; Julian F Guest; Almut Lehmann; Alison M Davie; Karen Güttler; Olaf Schlüter; Götz Dreiss Journal: Eur J Health Econ Date: 2004-10