A SUMMARY OF ECONOMIC EVALUATIONS PUBLISHED IN THE FIELD OF RHEUMATOLOGY AND RELATED DISCIPLINES

introduction. The relationship between the effectiveness of health car e interventions and their costs is of increasing interest, The goal of the present study was to summarize the economic evaluations (EEs) pub lished in the field of rheumatology and related disciplines, and to fo cus in particular on methodologic issues, Methods. MEDLINE was searche d in order to identify all relevant EEs published between 1966 and Feb ruary 1995, Titles and abstracts of 1,435 articles were retrieved and independently reviewed by 2 assessors, Overall, 63 articles were ident ified by either assessor as being definite or possible full EEs (defin ed as an analysis comparing 2 or more strategies involving the assessm ent of both costs and consequences), and were assessed independently, Results. Thirty-six articles were determined to be full EEs (33 cost-e ffectiveness and 3 cost-utility analyses), Most were published in the periods 1984-1990 (31%) and 1991-1995 (61%), Main areas covered were m ethods of prevention (44%), treatment (31%), and treatment-prevention (22%). Disorders most frequently studied were osteoarthritis (36%), os teoporosis (22%), and rheumatoid arthritis (14%), Direct and indirect costs were measured or estimated in 100% and 28% of the EEs, respectiv ely, The viewpoint of the analysis was stated explicitly in 12 studies (33%), Incremental and sensitivity analyses were presented in 17 (47% ) and 23 (64%), respectively, Inadequate use of economic terms was als o documented, Conclusion. The EE articles reviewed adhered partially t o basic analytic methods, Economic evaluations in the field of rheumat ology need to be improved to comply with current standards for the eva luation of health care interventions.