Economic evaluation of hypertension treatment

• This thesis focuses on economic evaluation of hypertension treatment.The purpose of the study was threefold: to calculate the costs ofhypertension treatment at an individual and a national level; to analyse the importance of different methodological issues for the cost-effectiveness of hypertension treatment; and to test the contingent valuation (CV) method in this field. The scope of the thesis is mainly methodological. The thesis includes nine papers. The first two papers are concerned with the cost of antihypertensive therapy. The three following papers deal with the costeffectiveness of hypertension treatment and the last four papers are centred around the CV method.In the cost calculations it is shown that the cost per patient can varyconsiderably between different patient groups, which should be taken intoaccount in economic evaluations. The importance of the cut-off point fortotal treatment costs is also demonstrated. Since a lack of conformity hasbeen noted with respect to several issues in cost-effectiveness analysis, acomputer simulation model is constructed to analyse the importance ofthese issues. The cost-effectiveness of hypertension treatment is shown to be highly sensitive towards different assumptions about the effectiveness of treatment, the outcome measure, the cost concept, the discounting of effects and the duration of therapy. Due to the limits of cost-effectiveness analysis it is important to try other approaches, such as cost-benefit analysis based on the CV method. With the CV method, that is consistent with utility theory and welfare economics, willingness to -pay is measured with survey methods. The CV method is tested in two empirical applications that indicate that it is possible to use the method in this area. The results should be interpreted with caution, however, since the reliability and validity of the method is not yet established.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap -- Tvärvetenskapliga studier inom samhällsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences -- Social Sciences Interdisciplinary (hsv//eng)

Keyword

economic evaluation

hypertension

cost-benefit analysis

cost-effectiveness analysis

the contingent valuation method

INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH AREAS

TVÄRVETENSKAPLIGA FORSKNINGSOMRÅDEN

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

dok (subject category)