medwireNews: Researchers have determined that the partly online HypoAware intervention, although clinically effective, is not cost-effective.
As previously reported, the HypoAware intervention significantly reduced the number of severe hypoglycemia episodes versus usual care, and was well accepted by patients. But this economic analysis shows that this benefit comes at a cost of € 2233 (US$ 2643) per severe hypoglycemia episode prevented.
When accounting for all costs, such as healthcare utilization, informal care, and lost productivity, the probability of HypoAware being cost-effective in preventing one participant having at least one severe hypoglycemic event was 0.91, but only if society was willing to pay € 20,000 ($ 23,672) in each case. And the probability of cost-effectiveness was even lower for quality-adjusted life–years gained.
“Further research in less well-resourced settings and more severely affected patients is warranted,” write Maartje de Wit (VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, the Netherlands) and co-researchers in Diabetic Medicine.
They also suggest that a direct cost-effectiveness comparison between HypoAware and real-time continuous glucose monitoring “would be an interesting next step.”
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