Pitfalls associated with commonly used methods for pharmacoeconomic analyses.

Abstract

Demonstrating the economic value of treatment has become an important objective of many clinical trials. Awareness of the limitations of the methods used in pharmacoeconomic studies of infectious diseases will help in understanding why improved methods are needed to adequately describe the costs associated with infectious episodes. Current analyses generally consider three levels of cost and use three methods to determine costs associated with an infectious episode. However, these costs and the methods for obtaining them may not be appropriate in all studies. Future pharmacoeconomic research needs to adhere to established principles but embrace new methodologies to improve the validity and usefulness of these studies.