Retrospective pharmacoeconomic evaluation of two types of cataract surgeries in a private hospital: cost effectiveness analysis

---

Original Article

Author Details : Shilpa Deshpande, Abhijeet Deshpande, Prashant Amale

Volume : 2, Issue : 2, Year : 2017

Article Page : 55-59

Suggest article by email

Get Permission

---

Abstract

Objective: Cataract surgery is performed by two methods; small incision cataract surgery (SICS) and topical phacoemulsification (TPE) with intraocular lens (IOL) implantation. SICS is a widely used method but technological advances have led to increasing use of TPE. Both procedures require different capital investment. Pharmacoeconomic evaluation tends to investigate the selection and use of treatment program to make the patient medication efficient, safe and economical. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the economics and effectiveness of SICS and TPE.
Materials and Method: Records of 800 patients in a private hospital over last 5 years were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were selected with inclusion and exclusion criteria and divided into two groups; SICS (n= 350) and TPE (n=450). Follow up was done after day 1; 1, 4, 8 weeks and 2 years. The cost was calculated including direct and indirect medical and non-medical costs. Outcomes were determined according to economical benefit, surgical benefits and humanistic outcomes as per SF-36 questionnaire with slight modifications. The cost effectiveness ratio (CER) was calculated with the help of QALY and utility values.
Results: Average cost of SICS and TPE over the period of 5 years was approximately Rs. 21220 and Rs. 30670 respectively. The QALY scores of patients in TPE group were significantly higher as compared to SICS group. CER was found to be lesser with TPE.
Conclusion: Retrospective pharmacoeconomic study revealed that TPE, although having higher cost, was clinically superior and cost effective than SICS as indicated from the analysis of consequences and CER.

Keywords: Pharmacoeconomic evaluation, small incision cataract surgery, topical phacoemulsification, cost effectiveness analysis

How to cite : Deshpande S, Deshpande A, Amale P, Retrospective pharmacoeconomic evaluation of two types of cataract surgeries in a private hospital: cost effectiveness analysis. Indian J Clin Anat Physiol 2017;2(2):55-59

This is an Open Access (OA) journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.