TY - JOUR
T1 - The OMERACT Initiative. Towards a Reference Approach to Derive QALY for Economic Evaluations in Rheumatology
AU - Boonen, Annelies
AU - Maetzel, Andreas
AU - Drummond, Michael
AU - Suarez-Almazor, Maria
AU - Harrison, Mark
AU - Welch, Vivian
AU - Tugwell, Peter S.
PY - 2009/9
Y1 - 2009/9
N2 - Within the OMERACT Economics Workgroup, an initiative was started to work towards consensus on the approach to calculate quality-adjusted life-years (QALY) in rheumatology. We report on a first meeting May 7, 2008, in Toronto attended by rheumatologists and experts in QALY. Following a Summary of an international QALY workshop of pharmacoeconomists conducted under the umbrella of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR), participating experts identified a series of high-level generic principles to be considered for QALY estimations. The OMERACT workgroup then addressed specific issues rheumatologists should concentrate on in research to build consensus on QALY in rheumatology; discussion was based on results of a Web-based Survey, conducted prior to the meeting, to identify attributes of a QALY considered important and approaches considered Suitable for the QALY estimations in rheumatology. One priority was to further explore indirect approaches to QALY estimation as representation of patients' preference for health in clinical decisions and to explore the additional value of patients' preferences versus societal preferences in allocation decisions. The role of the different descriptive systems and their influence on the QALY, the role of the visual analog scale to value preferences, and comparison of methods to integrate utility over time were also identified as research priorities. Approaches should be easy to apply, easy to understand by different parties, reproducible, and sensitive to change. (J Rheumatol 2009;36:2045-9; doi:10.3899/jrheum.090355)
AB - Within the OMERACT Economics Workgroup, an initiative was started to work towards consensus on the approach to calculate quality-adjusted life-years (QALY) in rheumatology. We report on a first meeting May 7, 2008, in Toronto attended by rheumatologists and experts in QALY. Following a Summary of an international QALY workshop of pharmacoeconomists conducted under the umbrella of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR), participating experts identified a series of high-level generic principles to be considered for QALY estimations. The OMERACT workgroup then addressed specific issues rheumatologists should concentrate on in research to build consensus on QALY in rheumatology; discussion was based on results of a Web-based Survey, conducted prior to the meeting, to identify attributes of a QALY considered important and approaches considered Suitable for the QALY estimations in rheumatology. One priority was to further explore indirect approaches to QALY estimation as representation of patients' preference for health in clinical decisions and to explore the additional value of patients' preferences versus societal preferences in allocation decisions. The role of the different descriptive systems and their influence on the QALY, the role of the visual analog scale to value preferences, and comparison of methods to integrate utility over time were also identified as research priorities. Approaches should be easy to apply, easy to understand by different parties, reproducible, and sensitive to change. (J Rheumatol 2009;36:2045-9; doi:10.3899/jrheum.090355)
KW - MUSCULOSKELETAL DISEASE
KW - QUALITY-ADJUSTED LIFE-YEARS
KW - OMERACT
KW - RECOMMENDATION
KW - QUALITY-OF-LIFE
KW - HEALTH
KW - ARTHRITIS
KW - PREFERENCES
KW - OUTCOMES
KW - INDEX
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=70349230073&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3899/jrheum.090355
DO - 10.3899/jrheum.090355
M3 - Article
SN - 0315-162X
VL - 36
SP - 2045
EP - 2049
JO - The Journal of Rheumatology
JF - The Journal of Rheumatology
IS - 9
ER -