Carlos E Rodriguez-Martinez1,2, Monica P Sossa-Briceño3, Jose A Castro-Rodriguez4. 1. Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogota, Colombia. 2. Department of Pediatric Pulmonology and Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, School of Medicine, Universidad El Bosque, Bogota, Colombia. 3. Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogota, Colombia. 4. Division of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
Abstract
Objective: Although the efficacy of systemic corticosteroids (SCs) in acute asthma exacerbations is well established, the fact that many children still require admission to hospital and that SCs have a slow onset of action are cause of concern. For this reason, the use of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) as a therapy added to SCs has been explored, with no clarity about its cost-effectiveness. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of ICS in addition to SCs (ICS + SCs) compared to standard therapy with SCs for treating pediatric asthma exacerbations. Methods: A decision-analysis model was developed to estimate the cost-effectiveness of SCs compared to ICS + SCs for treating pediatric patients with acute asthma exacerbations. Effectiveness parameters were obtained from a systematic review of the literature. Cost data obtained from hospital bills and from the national manual of drug prices. The study was carried out from the perspective of the national healthcare system in Colombia. The main outcome of the model was avoidance of hospital admission. Results: For the base-case analysis, the model showed that compared to SCs, therapy with ICS + SCs was associated with lower total costs (US$88.76 vs.US$97.71 average cost per patient) and a lower probability of hospital admission (0.9060 vs. 0.9000), thus showing dominance.Conclusions: This study shows that compared with standard therapy with SCs, ICS + SCs for treating pediatric patients with acute asthma exacerbations is the preferred strategy because it was associated with a lower probability of hospital admission, at lower total treatment costs.
Objective: Although the efficacy of systemic corticosteroids (SCs) in acute asthma exacerbations is well established, the fact that many children still require admission to hospital and that SCs have a slow onset of action are cause of concern. For this reason, the use of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) as a therapy added to SCs has been explored, with no clarity about its cost-effectiveness. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of ICS in addition to SCs (ICS + SCs) compared to standard therapy with SCs for treating pediatric asthma exacerbations. Methods: A decision-analysis model was developed to estimate the cost-effectiveness of SCs compared to ICS + SCs for treating pediatric patients with acute asthma exacerbations. Effectiveness parameters were obtained from a systematic review of the literature. Cost data obtained from hospital bills and from the national manual of drug prices. The study was carried out from the perspective of the national healthcare system in Colombia. The main outcome of the model was avoidance of hospital admission. Results: For the base-case analysis, the model showed that compared to SCs, therapy with ICS + SCs was associated with lower total costs (US$88.76 vs.US$97.71 average cost per patient) and a lower probability of hospital admission (0.9060 vs. 0.9000), thus showing dominance.Conclusions: This study shows that compared with standard therapy with SCs, ICS + SCs for treating pediatric patients with acute asthma exacerbations is the preferred strategy because it was associated with a lower probability of hospital admission, at lower total treatment costs.
Entities:
Keywords:
Asthma exacerbation; health economics; inhaled corticosteroid; systemic corticosteroid
Authors: Marzia Duse; Francesca Santamaria; Maria Carmen Verga; Marcello Bergamini; Giovanni Simeone; Lucia Leonardi; Giovanna Tezza; Annamaria Bianchi; Annalisa Capuano; Fabio Cardinale; Giovanni Cerimoniale; Massimo Landi; Monica Malventano; Mariangela Tosca; Attilio Varricchio; Anna Maria Zicari; Carlo Alfaro; Salvatore Barberi; Paolo Becherucci; Roberto Bernardini; Paolo Biasci; Carlo Caffarelli; Valeria Caldarelli; Carlo Capristo; Serenella Castronuovo; Elena Chiappini; Renato Cutrera; Giovanna De Castro; Luca De Franciscis; Fabio Decimo; Iride Dello Iacono; Lucia Diaferio; Maria Elisa Di Cicco; Caterina Di Mauro; Cristina Di Mauro; Dora Di Mauro; Francesco Di Mauro; Gabriella Di Mauro; Mattia Doria; Raffaele Falsaperla; Valentina Ferraro; Vassilios Fanos; Elena Galli; Daniele Giovanni Ghiglioni; Luciana Indinnimeo; Ahmad Kantar; Adima Lamborghini; Amelia Licari; Riccardo Lubrano; Stefano Luciani; Francesco Macrì; Gianluigi Marseglia; Alberto Giuseppe Martelli; Luigi Masini; Fabio Midulla; Domenico Minasi; Vito Leonardo Miniello; Michele Miraglia Del Giudice; Sergio Renzo Morandini; Germana Nardini; Agostino Nocerino; Elio Novembre; Giovanni Battista Pajno; Francesco Paravati; Giorgio Piacentini; Cristina Piersantelli; Gabriella Pozzobon; Giampaolo Ricci; Valter Spanevello; Renato Turra; Stefania Zanconato; Melissa Borrelli; Alberto Villani; Giovanni Corsello; Giuseppe Di Mauro; Diego Peroni Journal: Ital J Pediatr Date: 2021-04-21 Impact factor: 2.638