Evaluating quantity and quality of literature focusing on health economics and pharmacoeconomics in Gulf Cooperation Council countries

Abstract

The use of economic evaluation studies in G.C.C was limited. Different factors that affect the quality of articles such as performing a full economic evaluation and choosing societal perspective were identified. Strategies to improve the quality of future studies were recommended.

Health Economic Publications From the Middle East and North Africa Region: A Scoping Review of the Volume and Methods of Research

“…Nevertheless, 27 studies overlapped, and 23 studies were included in our review, which were potentially eligible yet not included in previous reviews. Overall, from 535, 3074, and 1950 citations, Al-Aqeel et al, [37] Eljilany et al, [4] and Farid et al [5] identified 15 (2.8%), 49 (1.6%), and 15 (0.7%) eligible studies, to which our review could potentially add 4, 11, and 12 more. Our study yielded 105 eligible articles from 1646 citations (6.4%), while it missed at least 26 studies, suggesting that the sensitivity of our search strategy needs to be further developed.…”

“…Although our study involved most countries and the largest number of studies from MENA, health economic studies from the region have previously been reviewed in high-quality systematic reviews. Al-Aqeel et al [37] identified 15 health economic studies in KSA up to May 2011, Eljilany et al [4] reviewed 49 studies from countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, KSA, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and UAE) until the end of 2017, and Farid et al [5] reviewed 15 studies from Egypt published between 2002 and 2017. While we included only studies that compared alternatives, previous reviews also included studies describing a single technology.…”

“…[39,43] Although our review is unique in terms of its breadth of geographic and methodological coverage, it has several limitations, which are highlighted as follows. In a way similar to other reviews from MENA or other regions, [4,5,37,39,42] we limited our search to peer-reviewed journals; therefore, potential sources of health economic publications, such as conference posters, [44] were not covered by our study. Two regional reviews searched for the gray literature, [40,41,45] and one searched the citation lists of past publications, [41] which were omitted from our search strategy.…”

“…[1] Along with the recent reforms aiming for fairer and more accountable healthcare systems, value-based health policy and financing became an emerging priority in the region. [2,3] Despite the increasing importance of economic considerations in the allocation of resources and the delivery of healthcare, recent reviews have reported limited quality and quantity of health economic evaluations in the Gulf region [4] and Egypt. [5] Although the institutional back-ground of health technology assessment and health economic evaluation is still under development, [6][7][8][9] a number of pharmacoeconomic guidelines and expert recommendations have already been published in both high-and middle-income countries in the region.…”

Capacity for health economics research and practice in Jordan, Lebanon, the occupied Palestinian territories and Turkey: needs assessment and options for development

“…A foundational step in designing capacity development programmes is to conduct a needs assessment, understood as "the systematic study of a problem or innovation, incorporating data and opinions from varied sources, in order to make effective decisions or recommendations about what should happen next" [6]. Available reviews of the health economic literature conducted in the region, be they with a cross-country [7,8] or single-country focus [9,10], all suggest a limited use of economic evaluation and substantial scope for improving methodological quality. There are also indications that most pharmacy schools offer pharmacoeconomics courses as part of their curriculum, albeit with widely varying hours and topics [11].…”