Medical decision models of Helicobacter pylori therapy to prevent gastric cancer

Abstract

tration on its essential features. A model would defy its very purpose if it tried to be overly detailed and simulate the medical phenomenon by considering all influences that occur in the real world. A good model should be simple and easily appreciated. Classic examples of elegant and conceptually simple mathematical models are, for instance, the differential equations that were developed by mathematicians to describe the complex and seemingly bewildering phenomena of physics. The majority of problems encountered in medicine, unfortunately, involve too many interrelated variables to be summarized in such a fashion. In essence, linear and logistic regression analyses represent two types of mathematic tools to model the influence of multiple variables on one medical outcome of interest. Compartment models and path

Screening for Gastric Cancer and Surveillance of Premalignant Lesions: a Systematic Review of Cost‐Effectiveness Studies

“…) . The median number of items fulfilled was 23 of 35 items possible, and although they are not of the same importance in terms of quality of the article, only eight items were reported in more that 80% of the articles, while 10 items did not achieve at least a 40% presence in all articles. More importantly, four items that are fundamental when assessing this kind of article were present in only around 60% of the studies, in particular the incremental analysis and major outcomes results (items 31 and 32), the price dates used (item 18), and the model details (item 20).…”

Asia–Pacific consensus guidelines on gastric cancer prevention

“…H. pylori infection is usually acquired in childhood, and as children would not have not harbored the organism for long enough to have developed precancerous lesions, childhood is theoretically an attractive time for H. pylori eradication and, thus, could help prevent gastric cancer later in life. However, as H. pylori prevalence and the incidence of gastric cancer are low in childhood, widespread population screening programs would be enormously expensive and not justifiable at a national level 135,136 . There is also an increased risk of reinfection after successful eradication therapy in childhood when compared to adulthood 137 .…”

Cost-effectiveness Analysis between Primary and Secondary Preventive Strategies for Gastric Cancer

“…The rationale of primary prevention is to arrest the carcinogenesis cascade and prevent irreversible change (13). Several health economic models have suggested the cost-effectiveness of H. pylori eradication programs in decreasing the mortality of gastric cancer (14)(15)(16)(17)(18). However, these studies mainly focused on populations with low H. pylori prevalence and low gastric cancer incidence.…”