[Concepts in studying cost effectiveness of pediatric asthma treatment in Germany, Switzerland and Austria].

Increasing expenditures of health care systems in industrialised western countries are caused by chronic diseases. Hence, issues on the cost-effectiveness of private as well as public financial resources for asthma therapy in children are gaining importance. In order to study cost-effectiveness issues of defining outcome-measures as well as the reliability and validity of methods to assess these outcomes have to be addressed. Data on direct and indirect costs of asthma have to be gathered. In a first step, comparative costs of asthma therapy of children in Germany, Switzerland and Austria have to be analysed. Subsequently, a randomised, prospective study will be able to demonstrate, whether treatment according to national evidence-based guidelines will be more cost-effective than treatment not taking guidelines into account. Data on the cost-effectiveness of therapy guidelines will help in decision-making of national health care authorities.