Gaps between limited health resources and expanding health service demands are emerging to be more and more prominent, which extremely generate the cost-effective strategies for scientific ...policy-making in the context of healthcare. As a systematic approach and solid tool to promote healthcare system more efficient and sustainable, health technology assessment (HTA) could provide multi-dimensional evidences comprising effectiveness, safety, economic implications, ethical, social, cultural and legal issues, in which economic evaluation is an important and unique part for optimizing decision-making. After decades of development, HTA has formulated a set of systematic theories, methods and procedures based on modern medicine. Meanwhile, as an important component of medicine system across the world, traditional medicine (TM) originates from knowledge, skill, and practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to different traditional cultures. Yet whether current theory and method system of HTA is applicable for TM is necessary to be explored and investigated. In principle, the general steps and methods of HTA could be basically applicable to TM, except for the PICO structuring, cost measurement, and supportive clinical evidence and information collection in economic evaluation. Therefore, these three challenging problems need to be focused and addressed in future HTA for TM.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
The COVID-19 is disproportionally affecting the poor, minorities and a broad range of vulnerable populations, due to its inequitable spread in areas of dense population and limited mitigation ...capacity due to high prevalence of chronic conditions or poor access to high quality public health and medical care. Moreover, the collateral effects of the pandemic due to the global economic downturn, and social isolation and movement restriction measures, are unequally affecting those in the lowest power strata of societies. To address the challenges to health equity and describe some of the approaches taken by governments and local organizations, we have compiled 13 country case studies from various regions around the world: China, Brazil, Thailand, Sub Saharan Africa, Nicaragua, Armenia, India, Guatemala, United States of America (USA), Israel, Australia, Colombia, and Belgium. This compilation is by no-means representative or all inclusive, and we encourage researchers to continue advancing global knowledge on COVID-19 health equity related issues, through rigorous research and generation of a strong evidence base of new empirical studies in this field.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
More than 90% of the Chinese population was covered by its three basic social health insurances. However, the Chinese rural-to-urban migrant workers (RUMWs), accounting for about one-fifth of China's ...total population, seem to be put on a disadvantaged position under the current health insurance schemes. The purpose of this study is to identify the current barriers and to provide policy suggestions to the ineffective health insurance coverage of RUMWs in China.
A systematic review guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. The searched databases included PubMed, Embase, Medline, Web of Science, PsycINFO, Maternity and Infant Care Database MIDIRS, the Cochrane Library, WHO Library Database (WHOLIS), WHO Global Health Library, World Bank eLibrary, OpenGrey, CNKI, and Wanfang. In total, 70 articles were reviewed.
(1) Chinese RUMWs have high work mobility and low job stability; (2) Barriers faced by RUMWs in obtaining effective health insurance coverage are primarily due to the reluctance of employers to provide insurance for all employees and the disadvantaged position held by RUMWs when negotiating with their employers; (3) Fissures among existing health insurance schemes leaves no room for RUMWs to meet their primary needs; and (4) Recent efforts in improving the portability and transferability of insurance across borders and schemes are not enough to solve the barriers.
It is argued that the Chinese central government must deal with the fragmentation of healthcare system in China and promote effective coverage by: (1) playing a more active role in coordinating different healthcare and social welfare schemes across the country, (2) increasing the health insurance portability, (3) making the healthcare policies more compatible with RUMW's characteristics to meet their primary health needs, (4) strengthening supervision of employers, and (5) providing more vocational training and other support to increase RUMW's job stability.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) mostly receive essential routine care and support from informal caregivers, who usually experience poorer health-related quality of life ...(HRQoL). The study aimed to evaluate the HRQoL and its predictors among informal caregivers of patients with advanced NSCLC in China.
We interviewed the adult caregiver population of patients with advanced NSCLC (stage IIIB~IV) in nine tertiary hospitals from multiple provinces in China between November 2020 and June 2021. The EQ-5D-5L instrument measured the HRQoL of caregivers, as analyzed by employing descriptive analysis, univariate analysis, Tobit regression, and multivariate logistic regression, and investigated the important influencing factors further.
A valid sample of 553 caregivers was analyzed. The mean EQ-5D-5L utility score of caregivers was 0.92 (SD = 0.14). Caregivers reported the greatest problems in mental health, with 45.39% reporting slight, moderate, severe, or extreme anxiety/depression. The potential influencing factors of HRQoL in caregivers included patients' age and cancer histology, relationship with the patients, and daily caregiving hours. Compared to other caregivers, patients' spouses had the lowest HRQoL. In addition, over six hours of caregiving per day was associated with lower HRQoL in caregivers of patients with advanced NSCLC.
The HRQoL of caregivers for patients with advanced NSCLC was investigated for the first time in China. The informal caregivers experience decreased HRQoL, with anxiety /depression problems being reported the most. The findings of this study would provide extensive information on the HRQoL of advanced NSCLC patients' caregivers for future health-promoting self-care.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Given the demands for public health and infectious disease management skills during COVID-19, a shortage of the public health workforce, particularly with skills and competencies in epidemiology and ...biostatistics, has emerged at the Centers for Disease Controls (CDCs) in China. This study aims to investigate the employment preferences of doctoral students majoring in epidemiology and biostatistics, to inform policy-makers and future employers to address recruitment and retention requirements at CDCs across China.
A convenience sampling approach for recruitment, and an online discrete choice experiment (DCE) survey instrument to elicit future employee profiles, and self-report of their employment and aspirational preferences during October 20 and November 12, 2020. Attributes included monthly income, employment location, housing benefits, children's education opportunities, working environment, career promotion speed and bianzhi (formally established post).
A total of 106 doctoral epidemiology and biostatistics students from 28 universities completed the online survey. Monthly income, employment location and bianzhi was of highest concern in the seven attributes measured, though all attributes were statistically significant and presented in the expected direction, demonstrating preference heterogeneity. Work environment was of least concern. For the subgroup analysis, employment located in a first-tier city was more likely to lead to a higher utility value for PhD students who were women, married, from an urban area and had a high annual family income. Unsurprisingly, when compared to single students, married students were willing to forgo more for good educational opportunities for their children. The simulation results suggest that, given our base case, increasing only monthly income from 10,000 ($ 1449.1) to 25,000 CNY ($ 3622.7) the probability of choosing the job in the third-tier city would increase from 18.1 to 53.8% (i.e., the location choice is changed).
Monthly income and employment location were the preferred attributes across the cohort, with other attributes then clearly ranked and delineated. A wider use of DCEs could inform both recruitment and retention of a public health workforce, especially for CDCs in third-tier cities where resource constraints preclude all the strategies discussed here.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Background Prevention of disease in Traditionnal Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a distinguishing advantage of TCM health management services, however, the holistic health state of the patients remains to ...be elucidated and evaluated. Objective To evaluate the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and its influencing factors in patients with prevention of disease in TCM. Methods From May to June 2022, a stratified cluster sampling method was used to randomly select a district-level TCM hospital from each of the four administrative regions of Guangzhou (Liwan District, Tianhe District, Baiyun District, Huadu District) as the research site. The EQ-5D-5L scale was used to investigate the patients with prevention of disease in TCM by questionnaire in primary care, and the health utility value was calculated according to the Chinese EQ-5D utility score system. The influencing factors of health utility value and EQ-VAS score were analyzed by using optimal scale regression analysis. Results A total of 660 questionnaires w
Background Drug therapy is one of the main treatment approaches for depression, and a consideration of patient preferences can effectively improve patient compliance with medication. Several studies ...have been conducted to explore the medication choice preferences of patients with depression, but there is a lack of studies to systematically collect and summarize the medication choice preferences of patients with depression. Objective To systematically review the studies related to the application of discrete choice experiment (DCE) and best-worst scaling (BWS) to the medication choice preferences of patients with depression, in order to provide reference for clinical rational drug use of patients with depression and future studies of preferences. Methods CNKI, Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform, VIP, PubMed, Web of Science and EmBase were systematically searched for the studies related to the application of DCE and BWS to the medication choice preferences of patients with depression from inception to 2021
Background
Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors are a new class of antidiabetic drugs used for treating type 2 diabetes mellitus. While many studies have reported on the cost-effectiveness of ...DPP-4 inhibitors for treating type 2 diabetes, a systematic review of economic evaluations of DPP-4 inhibitors is currently lacking.
Objectives
The aim of this systematic review was to assess the cost effectiveness of DPP-4 inhibitors for patients with type 2 diabetes.
Data Sources
MEDLINE, EMBASE, National Health Service Economic Evaluation Database (NHS EED), Web of Science, EconLit databases, and the Cochrane Library were searched in November 2013.
Study Eligibility Criteria, Participants and Interventions
Studies assessing the cost effectiveness of DPP-4 inhibitors for type 2 diabetes were eligible for analysis. DPP-4 inhibitor monotherapy or combinations with other antidiabetic agents were included in the review. The DPP-4 inhibitors were all marketed drugs. Two reviewers independently reviewed titles, abstracts, and articles sequentially to select studies for data abstraction based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Disagreements were resolved by consensus.
Study Appraisal and Synthesis Methods
The quality of included studies was assessed according to the 24-item checklist of the Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards (CHEERS) statement. The costs reported by the included studies were converted to US dollars via purchasing power parities (PPP) in the year 2013 using the CCEMG–EPPI-Center Cost Converter.
Results
A total of 11 published studies were selected for inclusion; all were cost-utility analyses. Nine studies were conducted from a payer perspective and one used a societal perspective; however, the perspective of the other study was unclear. Four studies were of good quality, six were of moderate quality, and one was of low quality. Of the seven studies comparing DPP-4 inhibitors plus metformin with sulfonylureas plus metformin, six concluded that DPP-4 inhibitors were cost effective in patients with type 2 diabetes who were no longer adequately controlled by metformin monotherapy. Five studies compared DPP-4 inhibitors with thiazolidinediones, and whether DPP-4 inhibitors were cost effective was uncertain. Only two economic evaluations provided data to compare DPP-4 inhibitors versus insulin, and the results favored the use of DPP-4 inhibitors as second-line therapy.
Limitations
Synthesis of the data was impossible because of heterogeneity in the methodology and data sources of the economic evaluations, and the inclusion criteria excluded conference abstracts. It was difficult to find reliable weightings for each of the items of the CHEERS checklist, and the ratings were dichotomous.
Conclusions and Implications of Key Findings
This study provides the first systematic evaluation of DPP-4 inhibitors for patients with type 2 diabetes. It found that, in patients with type 2 diabetes who do not achieve glycemic targets with antidiabetic monotherapy, DPP-4 inhibitors as add-on treatment may represent a cost-effective option compared with sulfonylureas and insulin. However, high-quality cost-effectiveness analyses that utilize long-term follow-up data and have no conflicts of interest are still needed.
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CEKLJ, EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
The epidemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has presented great challenges to the public health throughout the world. Therefore, it is crucial to foster high-level and multi-disciplinary ...public health talents to further improve public health. Herein, we summarize the current situation and challenges for public health education and prospect the requirements for training public health talents in China. Colleges and universities bear the responsibility for training public health talents, which is essential for the construction of public health system. In this context, we introduce the education for public health and the Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) program at Fudan university.
To assess the reporting quality of published economic evaluations of the negotiated oncology drugs listed for China's 2020 National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL).
A comprehensive search was ...conducted to identify economic evaluation studies of negotiated oncology drugs listed in China's 2020 NRDL using the PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, CNKI, SinoMed, and WanFang Database up to March 31, 2021. The Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards (CHEERS) checklist scored the reporting quality between 0 and 100. A linear regression analysis was employed to examine the influence of various characteristics on the reporting quality scores.
Eighty papers were included in the study, with the majority published during the past decade. Furthermore, more than half of the articles (57.5%, or 46 out of 80) were written in English. The average CHEERS score was 74.63 ± 12.75 and ranged from 43.48 to 93.75. The most inadequately reported items included choice of model, characterization of heterogeneity, and discussion, as well as currency, price date and conversion. Higher scores were associated with articles published from 2019 to 2021 and English publications.
The economic evaluation studies of negotiated oncology drugs listed in 2020 NRDL had moderate reporting quality. The Chinese economic evaluation publications could improve the reporting quality if the CHEERS checklist is consistently implemented. Also, the Chinese journals maybe explore introducing a reporting standard for economic evaluations.
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CEKLJ, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK