P. Rissanen et al., COSTS AND COST-EFFECTIVENESS IN HIP AND KNEE REPLACEMENTS - A PROSPECTIVE-STUDY, International journal of technology assessment in health care, 13(4), 1997, pp. 575-588
Citations number
44
Categorie Soggetti
Public, Environmental & Occupation Heath","Medical Informatics","Health Care Sciences & Services
The extensive benefits of the total hip (THA) and knee (TKA) replaceme
nts are well documented, but surprisingly little is known about their
economics. We assessed costs, cost-effectiveness (C/E), and patient-re
lated C/E variances in THA and TKA from data on 276 THA and 176 TKA pa
tients. Patients with primary arthrosis, primary operation, and total
joint replacement were recruited from seven hospitals between March 19
91 and June 1992. Their use of health and other welfare services toget
her with health-related quality of life (HRQoL) were measured before t
he surgery and at 6, 12, and 24 months postoperatively. HRQoL was asse
ssed by the 15D, a 15-dimensional HRQoL instrument, and the Nottingham
Health Profile. Costs were assessed from questionnaire responses, the
Finnish Hospital Discharge Register, and Finnish Arthroplasty Registe
r. Total hospital costs per patient were 45,000 FIM (US $10,500) for T
HA and 49,600 FIM (US $11,500) for TKA. Prosthesis costs comprised 21%
of these costs in MA and 24% in TKA. On average, hip patients gained
more in terms of HRQoL, and the operations were more cost-effective. T
he C/E ratio for younger (less than or equal to 60 years) knee patient
s did not differ from those in all age groups of hip patients, whereas
TKAs in those over 60 years had a worse C/E ratio compared with all o
ther patient subgroups. It was concluded that allocation efficiency ca
n be improved by considering not only the intervention but also patien
t characteristics such as age. Indeed, the C/E ratio varied more acros
s age groups of knee patients than between average THA and TKA patient
s.