Continuation of CST is likely to be cost-effective for people with mild-to-moderate dementia.

Decision-makers have to prioritize their budget on the treatment option that is the most cost effective for the management of a specific patient group. From government as well as health care perspectives, this study shows that a GACT is more cost effective than pharmacological treatment in management of FM.

Methods: Cost-effectiveness analysis within a two-arm, pragmatic, randomised, controlled, single-blind, parallel-group trial of a dyadic exercise regimen (individually tailored, for 20-30 minutes at least five times per week). The study randomised 131 community-dwelling individuals with dementia and clinically significant behavioural and psychological symptoms with a carer willing and able to participate in the exercise regimen; 52 dyads provided sufficient cost data for analyses.Results: Mean intervention cost was £284 per dyad. For the sub-sample of 52 dyads, the intervention group had significantly higher mean cost from a societal perspective (mean difference £2728.60, p=0.05), but costs were not significantly different from a health and social care perspective. The exercise intervention was more cost-effective than treatment as usual from both societal and health and social care perspectives for the measure of behavioural and psychological symptoms (Neuro Psychiatric Inventory). It does not appear cost-effective in terms of cost per quality-adjusted life year gain. Conclusions 3The exercise intervention has the potential to be seen as cost-effective when considering behavioural and psychological symptoms, but did not appear cost-effective when considering Quality Adjusted Life Year gains.

IntroductionCognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-recommended pharmacologic treatments (RPTs; pregabalin, duloxetine, and milnacipran) are effective treatment options for fibromyalgia (FM) syndrome and are currently recommended by clinical guidelines. We compared the cost-utility from the healthcare and societal perspectives of CBT versus RPT (combination of pregabalin + duloxetine) and usual care (TAU) groups in the treatment of FM.MethodsThe economic evaluation was conducted alongside a 6-month, multicenter, randomized, blinded, parallel group, controlled trial. In total, 168 FM patients from 41 general practices in Zaragoza (Spain) were randomized to CBT (n = 57), RPT (n = 56), or TAU (n = 55). The main outcome measures were Quality-Adjusted Life Years (QALYs, assessed by using the EuroQoL-5D questionnaire) and improvements in health-related quality of life (HRQoL, assessed by using EuroQoL-5D visual analogue scale, EQ-VAS). The costs of healthcare use were estimated from patient self-reports (Client Service Receipt Inventory). Cost-utility was assessed by using the net-benefit approach and cost-effectiveness acceptability curves (CEACs).ResultsOn average, the total costs per patient in the CBT group (1,847€) were significantly lower than those in patients receiving RPT (3,664€) or TAU (3,124€). Patients receiving CBT reported a higher quality of life (QALYs and EQ-VAS scores); the differences between groups were significant only for EQ-VAS. From a complete case-analysis approach (base case), the point estimates of the cost-effectiveness ratios resulted in dominance for the CBT group in all of the comparisons performed, by using both QALYs and EQ-VAS as outcomes. These findings were confirmed by bootstrap analyses, net-benefit curves, and CEACs. Two additional sensitivity analyses (intention-to-treat analysis and per-protocol analysis) indicated that the results were robust. The comparison of RPT with TAU yielded no clear preference for either treatment when using QALYs, although RPT was determined to be more cost-effective than TAU when evaluating EQ-VAS.ConclusionsBecause of lower costs, CBT is the most cost-effective treatment for adult FM patients. Implementation in routine medical care would require policymakers to develop more-widespread public access to trained and experienced therapists in group-based forms of CBT.Trial registrationCurrent Controlled Trials ISRCTN10804772. Registered 29 September 2008.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13075-014-0451-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.