BackgroundHealth state utility values (HSUVs) identified from utility elicitation studies are widely used in pharmacoeconomic evaluations for chronic hepatitis C (CHC) and are particularly instrumental in health technology assessment (HTA) evaluation like the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).
ObjectiveThe objective of this study is to identify HSUVs used in cost-utility analyses (CUAs) for CHC in Europe and evaluate the impact of HSUVs selection on cost-effectiveness results in terms of incremental cost per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) gained (ICER).
MethodsA systematic search of pharmacoeconomic evaluations for CHC was updated in Medline and Embase from the period of 2012-2017 to the period of 2017-2020. Data on health states, HSUVs and utility elicitation studies were extracted. The difference in HSUVs of the same health state in different CUAs and the difference between HSUVs of one health state and of the interlink health state in the same CUAs were calculated. A quality assessment was performed to evaluate the selection of HSUVs in CUAs. Sets of HSUVs identified were used in a re-constructed CUA model to assess the impact on ICER.
ResultsTwenty-six CUAs conducted in European countries and referring to 17 utility elicitation studies were included. The difference in HSUVs of the same health states in different CUAs ranged from 0.021 (liver transplant) to 0.468 (decompensated cirrhosis). The difference between HSUVs of one health state and of the interlink health state of next disease severity level was calculated between health state of F0-F1/mild and F2-F3/moderate (n=11, 0.040 to 0.110), F2-F3/moderate and F4/compensated cirrhosis (n=18, 0.027 to 0.130), compensated cirrhosis and decompensated cirrhosis (n=22, 0.020 to 0.100), decompensated cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (n=24, 0.000 to 0.200), hepatocellular carcinoma and liver transplant in the first year (n=17, -0.329 to 0.170) and All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.(which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.