How to develop brief economic commentaries for Cochrane Intervention Reviews

Workshop category: 

  • Health economics
Date and Location

Date: 

Sunday 16 September 2018 - 14:00 to 15:30

Location: 

Lammermuir 2
Contact persons and facilitators

Contact person:

Luke Vale

Facilitators:

Vale L1
1 Cochrane Incontinence snd Economic Methods and EPOC, United Kingdom

Acknowledgements:

Aluko P1
1 Campbell and Cochrane Economic Methods Group, UK
Target audience

Target audience: 

Review authors, Managing Editors, Co-ordinating Editors, Editors, Trials Search Co-ordinators, patients and public, Open to all participants

Level of difficulty: 

Basic
Type of workshop

Type of workshop : 

Training
Abstract

Abstract:

Objective:
To provide training in the process of developing brief economic commentaries for inclusion in Cochrane intervention reviews.

Description:
Incorporating brief, evidence-informed economic commentaries into the Background and Discussion sections of Cochrane intervention reviews places an 'economic lens' on the health condition and interventions being studied. This can serve to increase the relevance and usefulness of the review for end users, but without major additional resource or workload implications for author teams and editorial base staff.

The process of developing an economic commentary involves:

- conducting supplementary searches of selected electronic databases using specialised search strategies to identify health economics literature;
- selecting relevant health economic studies; and
- drawing on information contained in database records and/or corresponding full-text reports to summarise, in narrative form, the economic burden of the condition, the potential impact of the intervention on resource use and costs, and (possibly) the prima facie case that an intervention may (or may not) be judged 'promising' from an economic point of view.

This workshop will comprise presentations followed by interactive exercises for hands-on application of the process and skills being taught. Workshop materials are consistent with the methodology in the current Chapter 15 of the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions and are based on material in the proposed update.
Attachments

Attachments: 

Microsoft Office document icon How to develop brief economic commentaries abstract_Edinburgh 2018.doc

Relevance to patients and consumers: 

The funds available for health care in every country are limited and hard choices have to be made about what interventions are or are not provided. These choices need to consider what works (is a treatment effective) but also how much it costs and who bears those costs (patients and their families, health services, the public in terms of taxes or insurance premiums) in order to help people make judgements. Adding an economic perspective to a Cochrane Intervention review allows the best available evidence on costs and value for money to be considered alongside the best available evidence on effectiveness.