Vol 6, No 4 (2002)
Review paper
Published online: 2002-10-18
Anti-Hypertensive Treatment - Importance of Cost-Effectiveness Analysis
Tomasz Grodzicki
Nadciśnienie tętnicze 2002;6(4):299-303.
Vol 6, No 4 (2002)
REVIEV
Published online: 2002-10-18
Abstract
The rising costs of medical care force us to perform pharmacoeconomic analyses
aiming at cost optimalisation. Whereas the therapy benefits can be easily calculated based on the results of treatment programmes, the cost analysis is more complicated, because it requires considering not only medical costs (e.g. drug, diagnostic procedures, hospitalisation and treatment of complications) but also additional costs. Pharmacoeconomic analyses performed in Poland show that the cost of antihypertensive treatment is about 14 thousand million zloty per year. This sum consists of costs
for medical consultations (31%), hospitalisations (21%), diagnostic procedures (11%) and drugs (only 10%). Pharmacoeconomic analyses, conducted also in Poland, comparing costs and effectivness of older (enalapril) and modern (perindopril) ACE inhibitors evidently show the reduction of total costs and better antyhypertensive
efficacy with the use of longacting ACE inhibitors. The results of these studies prove the need of employing a wider perspective in considering problems of antihypertensive
treatment costs. The cost-effectiveness of antihypertensive therapy should be
evaluated on the basis of total therapy costs and the clinical effects of treatment.
Abstract
The rising costs of medical care force us to perform pharmacoeconomic analyses
aiming at cost optimalisation. Whereas the therapy benefits can be easily calculated based on the results of treatment programmes, the cost analysis is more complicated, because it requires considering not only medical costs (e.g. drug, diagnostic procedures, hospitalisation and treatment of complications) but also additional costs. Pharmacoeconomic analyses performed in Poland show that the cost of antihypertensive treatment is about 14 thousand million zloty per year. This sum consists of costs
for medical consultations (31%), hospitalisations (21%), diagnostic procedures (11%) and drugs (only 10%). Pharmacoeconomic analyses, conducted also in Poland, comparing costs and effectivness of older (enalapril) and modern (perindopril) ACE inhibitors evidently show the reduction of total costs and better antyhypertensive
efficacy with the use of longacting ACE inhibitors. The results of these studies prove the need of employing a wider perspective in considering problems of antihypertensive
treatment costs. The cost-effectiveness of antihypertensive therapy should be
evaluated on the basis of total therapy costs and the clinical effects of treatment.
Keywords
arterial hypertension; pharmacoeconomics; ACE inhibitors
Title
Anti-Hypertensive Treatment - Importance of Cost-Effectiveness Analysis
Journal
Arterial Hypertension
Issue
Vol 6, No 4 (2002)
Article type
Review paper
Pages
299-303
Published online
2002-10-18
Page views
650
Article views/downloads
1098
Bibliographic record
Nadciśnienie tętnicze 2002;6(4):299-303.
Keywords
arterial hypertension
pharmacoeconomics
ACE inhibitors
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