Every Monday our authors provide a round-up of some of the most recently published peer reviewed articles from the field. We don’t cover everything, or even what’s most important – just a few papers that have interested the author. Visit our Resources page for links to more journals or follow the HealthEconBot. If you’d like to write one of our weekly journal round-ups, get in touch.
The use of quality-adjusted life years in cost-effectiveness analyses in palliative care: mapping the debate through an integrative review. Palliative Medicine [PubMed] Published 13th February 2017
February saw a health economics special within the journal Palliative Medicine – the editorials are very much worth a read to get a quick idea of how health economics has (and hasn’t) developed within the end of life care context. One of the most commonly encountered debates when discussing end of life care within health economics circles relates to the use of QALYs, and whether they’re appropriate. This paper aimed to map out the pros and cons of using the QALY framework to inform health economic decisions in the palliative care context. Being a review, there were no ground-breaking findings, more a refresher on what the issues are with the QALY at end of life: i) restrictions in life years gained, ii) conceptualisation of quality of life and its measurement, and iii) valuation and additivity of time. The review acknowledges the criticisms of the QALY but concludes that it is still of use for informing decision making. A key finding, and one which should be common sense, is that the EQ-5D should not be relied on as the sole measure within this context: the dimensions important to those at end of life are not adequately captured by the EQ-5D, and other measures should be considered. A limitation for me was that the review did not include Round’s (2016) book Care at the End of Life: An Economic Perspective (disclaimer: I’m a co-author on a chapter), which has significant overlap and builds on a number of the issues relevant to the paper. That aside, this is a useful paper for those new to the pitfalls of economic evaluation at the end of life and provides an excellent summary of many of the key issues.
The causal effect of retirement on mortality: evidence from targeted incentives to retire early. Health Economics [PubMed] [RePEc] Published 23rd February 2017
It’s been said that those who retire earlier die earlier, and a quick google search suggests there are many statistics supporting this. However, I’m unsure how robust the causality is in such studies. For example, the sick may choose to leave the workforce early. Previous academic literature had been inconclusive regarding the effects, and in which direction they occurred. This paper sought to elucidate this by taking advantage of pension reforms within the Netherlands which meant certain cohorts of Dutch civil servants could qualify for early retirement at a younger age. This change led to a steep increase in retirement and provided an opportunity to examine causal impacts by instrumenting retirement with the early retirement window. Administrative data from the entire population was used to examine the probability of dying resulting from earlier retirement. Contrary to preconceptions, the probability of men dying within five years dropped by 2.6% in those who took early retirement: a large and significant impact. The biggest impact was found within the first year of retirement. An explanation for this is that the reduction of stress and lifestyle change upon retiring may postpone death for the civil servants which were in poor health. The paper is an excellent example of harnessing a natural experiment for research purposes. It provides a valuable contribution to the evidence base whilst also being reassuring for those of us who plan to retire in the next few years (lottery win pending).
Mapping to estimate health-state utility from non–preference-based outcome measures: an ISPOR Good Practices for Outcomes Research Task Force report. Value in Health [PubMed] Published 16th February 2017
Finally, I just wanted to signpost this new good practice guide. If you ever attend HESG, ISPOR, or IHEA, you’ll nearly always encounter a paper on mapping (cross-walking). Given the ethical issues surrounding research waste and the increasing pressure to publish, mapping provides an excellent opportunity to maximise the value of your data. Of course, mapping also serves a purpose for the health economics community: it facilitates the estimation of QALYs in studies where no preference based measure exists. There are many iffy mapping functions out there so it’s good to see ISPOR have taken action by producing a report on best practice for mapping. As with most ISPOR guidelines the paper covers all the main areas you’d expect and guides you through the key considerations to undertaking a mapping exercise, this includes: pre-modelling considerations, data requirements, selection of statistical models, selection of covariates, reporting of results, and validation. Additionally there is also a short section for those who are keen to use a mapping function to generate QALYs but are unsure which to pick. As with any set of guidelines, it’s not exactly a thriller, it is however extremely useful for anyone seeking to conduct mapping.
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