Regular articleA cost-utility analysis of therapy for amblyopia☆
Section snippets
Overview
Software produced by Treeage, Inc. (Williamstown, MA)16 was used to perform decision analysis17, 18 to simulate clinical situations involving amblyopia therapy and no therapy for the eyes of patients with amblyopia. The microcomputer model took into account the mortality within the group of patients with amblyopia, as well as the treatment results, expressed in utility value form. Utility values were used at the terminal nodes at the right side of the decision tree to provide the reference case
Results
Decision analysis revealed that, over the 77-year life expectancy of the average patient, 0.80055 QALYs were gained from amblyopia therapy. The mean cost-effectiveness for each amblyopia treatment variant, discounted with series present value methodology, is shown in Table 3. With a 3% discount rate, it was $2281/QALY (year 2001 nominal U.S. dollars) in the costliest group, which consisted of all weighted treatments, and was $1726/QALY when all surgical interventions in the treatment of
Discussion
The data presented show that amblyopia therapy yields a $/QALY gained of $2281 with a 3% discount rate and year 2001 U.S. nominal dollars. This analysis takes into account the medical incremental costs associated with surgical and nonsurgical treatment of amblyopia. It does not incorporate the medical costs of screening for amblyopia or the associated societal costs, such as the iatrogenic psychosocial effect of occlusion therapy,49 school absences, missed work for caregivers, and
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2022, Survey of OphthalmologyCitation Excerpt :Untreated amblyopia can have a significant effect on patients’ self-perception, quality of life, functional skills, employment prospects, and overall risk of blindness (from the potential loss of vision in the fellow eye).1,9,12,65,82,112 Additionally, amblyopia is estimated to cost the US more than 7 billion dollars per year in unmet earnings potential.58 A variety of modalities have been proven effective in the treatment of amblyopia.
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2020, Advances in Ophthalmology and OptometryGuide de pratique clinique fondé sur des données probantes pour l'examen périodique de la vue chez les enfants de 0 à 5 ans au Canada
2019, Canadian Journal of OphthalmologyCitation Excerpt :Dans l'ensemble, les bienfaits du dépistage et du traitement, lorsqu'un trouble est décelé, prévalent sur les préjudices et les coûts occasionnés.20,51–53 En effet, il appert que le traitement de l'amblyopie est l'une des interventions médicales les plus rentables au monde.54,55 L'amblyopie non ou insuffisamment traitée peut mener à une déficience visuelle et à une réduction de la qualité de vie permanentes.
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Manuscript no. 210586.
Supported in part by the Premier’s Award for Excellence, Ontario, Canada, and Principal’s Initiative Research Fund, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.