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- Deogan, Charlotte, et al.
(author)
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Cost-Effectiveness of School-Based Prevention of Cannabis Use
- 2015
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In: Applied Health Economics and Health Policy. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1175-5652 .- 1179-1896. ; 13
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Cannabis is the most frequently used illicit drug globally. Despite increasing evidence that cannabis use is associated with adverse health effects, the knowledge on preventative strategies is still limited. This study stemmed from a systematic review of effective prevention in which school-based programmes were identified as promising. The primary objective was to evaluate the cost effectiveness of Project ALERT (Adolescent, Learning, Experiences, Resistance, and Training), compared with ordinary ATOD (Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug) education, among Swedish students in the eighth grade of compulsory school.Methods: The cost-effectiveness analysis was performed from the societal perspective with quality-adjusted lifeyears (QALYs) as an outcome (willingness-to-pay threshold €50,000) and follow-up periods from 1 year to a lifetime, considering a discounting rate of 3 %, and with costs inflated to 2013 levels. A Markov model was constructed on the basis of the ‘states’ of single use, regular use, daily use and use of other illicit drugs, which were associated with ‘complications’ of psychosis, schizophrenia, traffic accidents, depression and amotivational syndrome. Health and cost consequences were linked to both states and complications.Results: The programme was cost saving on the basis of evidence from the USA (ratio 1:1.1), and was cost effective (incremental cost-effectiveness ratio €22,384 per QALY) after reasonable adjustment for the Swedish context and with 20 years of follow-up. When the target group was restricted to boys who were neither studying nor working/doing work experience, the programme was cost effective after 9 years and cost saving (ratio 1:3.2) after 20 years.Conclusion: School-based prevention such as Project ALERT has the potential to be cost effective and to be cost saving if implemented in deprived areas. In the light of the shifting landscape regarding legalization of cannabis, it seems rational to continue the health economic analysis of prevention initiated here.
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| 2. |
- Ulander, Lars, 1962, et al.
(author)
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VHF/UHF bistatic and passive SAR ground imaging
- 2015
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In: IEEE National Radar Conference - Proceedings. - 1097-5659. - 9781479982325 ; 2015-June:June, s. 669-673
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Bistatic and passive radar are emerging technologies for covert ground surveillance based on cooperative or non-cooperative transmitters, respectively. The latter uses transmitters of opportunity, e.g. terrestrial digital video broadcasting (DVB-T). In the paper, we show results from two unique experiments conducted using airborne systems operating in the VHF and UHF bands. The first experiment investigates UHF-band passive synthetic aperture radar (SAR) in receive-only mode. DVB-T signals transmitted from a 300-m tall mast are used and SAR images are formed at ranges up to 15 km. The second experiment investigates VHF-band bistatic SAR with a transmitting airborne radar and a receive-only system on a small helicopter. Results show significantly higher signal-to-clutter ratio for man-made objects in forested areas at bistatic elevation angles of 20°. © 2015 IEEE.
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