BackgroundA total of 11 treatment sequences for advanced wild-type squamous non-small cell lung cancer are recommended by Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology Guidelines, consisting of seven first-line and three second-line treatments. Five of these treatments were newly approved in China between 2021 and 2022. We evaluated the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of these strategies from the Chinese healthcare system perspective.MethodsNetwork meta-analysis with non-proportional hazards was used to calculate the relative efficacy between interventions. A sequential model was developed to estimate costs and quality-adjusted life years (QALY) for treatment sequences with first-line platinum- and paclitaxel-based chemotherapy (SC) with or without nedaplatin, tislelizumab, camrelizumab, sintilimab, sugemalimab or pembrolizumab, followed by second-line docetaxel, tislelizumab or nivolumab. SC and docetaxel were used as comparators for first-line and second-line treatments, respectively. QALY and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) were used to evaluate effectiveness and cost-effectiveness, respectively. Cost-effective threshold was set as USD 19,091. Subgroup analysis was conducted to determine the best first-line and second-line therapy.ResultsPembrolizumab + SC, followed by docetaxel (PED) was the most effective treatment sequence. QALYs for patients received SC, nedaplatin + SC, tislelizumab + SC, sintilimab + SC, camrelizumab + SC, sugemalimab + SC, pembrolizumab + SC followed by docetaxel were 0.866, 0.906, 1.179, 1.266, 1.179, 1.266, 1.603, 1.721, 1.807; QALYs for SC, nedaplatin + SC followed by tislelizumab were 1.283, 1.301; QALYs for SC, nedaplatin + SC followed by nivolumab were 1.353, 1.389. Camrelizumab + SC, followed by docetaxel (CAD) was the most cost-effective. Compared to SC with or without nedaplatin, tislelizumab, or sintilimab followed by docetaxel, ICERs of CAD were USD 12,276, 13,210, 6,974, 9,421/QALY, respectively. Compared with nedaplatin or SC followed by tislelizumab, the ICERs of CAD were USD 4,183, 2,804/QALY; CAD was dominant compared with nedaplatin or SC followed by nivolumab; The ICER of sugemalimab + SC followed by docetaxel and PED were USD 522,023, 481,639/QALY compared with CAD. Pembrolizumab + SC and camrelizumab + SC were the most effective and cost-effective first-line options, respectively; tislelizumab was the most effective and cost-effective second-line therapy. Tislelizumab used in second-line was more effective than first-line, no significant differences between their cost-effectiveness. Sensitivity and scenario analysis confirmed robustness of the results.ConclusionsPED and CAD are the most effective and cost-effective treatment sequence, respectively; pembrolizumab + SC and camrelizumab + SC are the most effective and cost-effective first-line choice, respectively; tislelizumab is the most effective and cost-effective second-line choice.

The Chinese community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) Diagnosis and Treatment Guideline 2020 recommends quinolone antibiotics as the initial empirical treatment options for CAP. However, patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) are often misdiagnosed with CAP because of the similarity of symptoms. Moxifloxacin and levofloxacin have inhibitory effects on mycobacterium tuberculosis as compared with nemonoxacin, resulting in delayed diagnosis of PTB. Hence, the aim of this study is to compare the cost-effectiveness of nemonoxacin, moxifloxacin and levofloxacin in the treatment of CAP and to determine the value of these treatments in the differential diagnosis of PTB. Primary efficacy data were collected from phase II-III randomized, double-blind, multi-center clinical trials comparing nemonoxacin to moxifloxacin (CTR20130195) and nemonoxacin to levofloxacin (CTR20140439) for the treatment of Chinese CAP patients. A decision tree was constructed to compare the cost-utility among three groups under the perspective of healthcare system. The threshold for willingness to pay (WTP) is 1–3 times GDP per capita ($11,174–33,521). Scenarios including efficacy and cost for CAP patients with a total of 6% undifferentiated PTB. Sensitivity and scenario analyses were performed to test the robustness of basic analysis. The costs of nemonoxacin, moxifloxacin, and levofloxacin were $903.72, $1053.59, and $1212.06 and the outcomes were 188.7, 188.8, and 188.5 quality-adjusted life days (QALD), respectively. Nemonoxacin and moxifloxacin were dominant compared with levofloxacin, and the ICER of moxifloxacin compared with nemonoxacin was $551,643, which was much greater than WTP; therefore, nemonoxacin was the most cost-effective option. Regarding patients with PTB who were misdiagnosed with CAP, taking nemonoxacin could save $290.76 and $205.51 when compared with moxifloxacin and levofloxacin and resulted in a gain of 2.83 QALDs. Our findings demonstrate that nemonoxacin is the more economical compared with moxifloxacin and levofloxacin, and non-fluoroquinolone antibiotics are cost-saving and utility-increasing compared to fluoroquinolones in the differential diagnosis of PTB, which can help healthcare system in making optimal policies and help clinicians in the medication of patients.

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has led nucleic acid collection and detection became a measure to ensure normal life in China. Considering the huge detection demand, it has emerged that robots replace manual sample collection. However, the cost-effectiveness of nucleic acid collection by robots instead of humans remain unknown. Methods This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Shenzhen Luohu District People’s Hospital, number 2021-LHQRMYY-KYLL-031a. All participants signed the written informed consent of this study. 273 volunteers were recruited on December 1st 2021 from Shenzhen and divided into six groups: one group to be sampled by robots and the others to be sampled manually with varying specifications for swab rotation and insertion time. Questionnaires were distributed to the robot group to ask them sampling feeling. The effectiveness and safety of sampling were evaluated through the sampling efficiency, adverse events and sampling feeling of different groups. The economics of the different methods were judged by comparing the sampling cost for each. Results The sampling efficiency of the robot group was 96.9%, and there was no statistically significant difference between the other five manually sampled groups (p = 0.586). There were no serious adverse events in any of the six groups, but nasal soreness and tearing did occur in all group. Of the volunteers who underwent robotic sampling, 85.94% reported that the experience was either no different or more comfortable than the manual sampling. In economic terms, a single robot used to replace medical staff for sample collection becomes economically advantageous when the working time is ≥ 455 days. If multiple robots are used to replace twice the number of manual collections, it becomes more economical at 137 days and remains so as long as the robot is used. Conclusions It appears safe and effective for robots to replace manual sampling method. Implementation of robotic sampling is economical and feasible, and can significantly save costs when working over a long term.

As China is transitioning to an aging society, the Chinese government has proposed an eldercare pattern, called medicalized elderly care, to help solve the rapid aging and health care problems together. However, the shortage of elderly caregivers is a critical issue, with deficiency both in quantity and quality. This study aims to survey nurses’ willingness to transition into medicalized elderly caregivers and compare it between modern and traditional regions. Nurses working in Guangdong (modern region) and Jilin (traditional region) were investigated using a self-administered questionnaire in October 2021. We analyzed the influencing factors through χ²-test, t-test a and binary logistic regression model and further explored the influence of region using propensity score matching (PSM). A total of 1227 nurses were included, with 726 (59.2%) of them showing willingness to transition. Nurses from traditional regions showed a significantly higher willingness to transition after PSM (p = 0.027). Other factors influencing nurses’ willingness were age, education, lived with older adults, participated in voluntary activities related to older adults, visited eldercare institutions, attitudes toward older adults, knowledge about older adults, hospice care attitudes and death attitudes. The willingness of nurses to transition was not high enough. To have more willing and skillful human resources for eldercare, we need a more “intimate society for older adults” in the first place.