Costs and cost-effectiveness of malaria control interventions - a systematic review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The control and elimination of malaria requires expanded coverage of and access to effective malaria control interventions such as insecticide-treated nets (ITNs), indoor residual spraying (IRS), intermittent preventive treatment (IPT), diagnostic testing and appropriate treatment. Decisions on how to scale up the coverage of these interventions need to be based on evidence of programme effectiveness, equity and cost-effectiveness.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A systematic review of the published literature on the costs and cost-effectiveness of malaria interventions was undertaken. All costs and cost-effectiveness ratios were inflated to 2009 USD to allow comparison of the costs and benefits of several different interventions through various delivery channels, across different geographical regions and from varying costing perspectives.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Fifty-five studies of the costs and forty three studies of the cost-effectiveness of malaria interventions were identified, 78% of which were undertaken in sub-Saharan Africa, 18% in Asia and 4% in South America. The median financial cost of protecting one person for one year was $2.20 (range$0.88-$9.54) for ITNs,$6.70 (range $2.22-$12.85) for IRS, $0.60 (range$0.48-$1.08) for IPT in infants,$4.03 (range $1.25-$11.80) for IPT in children, and $2.06 (range$0.47-$3.36) for IPT in pregnant women. The median financial cost of diagnosing a case of malaria was$4.32 (range $0.34-$9.34). The median financial cost of treating an episode of uncomplicated malaria was $5.84 (range$2.36-$23.65) and the median financial cost of treating an episode of severe malaria was$30.26 (range $15.64-$137.87). Economies of scale were observed in the implementation of ITNs, IRS and IPT, with lower unit costs reported in studies with larger numbers of beneficiaries. From a provider perspective, the median incremental cost effectiveness ratio per disability adjusted life year averted was $27 (range$8.15-$110) for ITNs,$143 (range $135-$150) for IRS, and $24 (range$1.08-$44.24) for IPT.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>A transparent evidence base on the costs and cost-effectiveness of malaria control interventions is provided to inform rational resource allocation by donors and domestic health budgets and the selection of optimal packages of interventions by malaria control programmes.</p

Depression and 5-year mortality in patients with acute myocardial infarction: Analysis of the IDACC database

Objective: Symptoms of depression are highly prevalent and persistent following myocardial infarction (MI). Whether depression is a risk factor for long-term mortality following MI remains controversial. The present study aimed to determine whether depression during hospitalisation for acute MI (AMI) predicted 5-year all-cause or cardiac mortality. Method: This study utilised the Identifying Depression as a Comorbid Condition (IDACC) database of 337 hospitalised patients with AMI. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale (CES-D). Data were linked to a government administrative death registry to determine 5-year mortality. Survival data were analysed using Cox’s proportional hazards model. Results: The mean age during AMI hospitalisation was 59 years ± 12, 74% of patients were men and depression (CES-D ≥ 16) was present in 132 patients (39.3%). The 5-year all-cause mortality rate was 10.4% (35 deaths) and the cardiac mortality rate was 6.5% (22 deaths). When depression was defined as a dichotomous variable, moderate to severe depression (defined by CES-D ≥ 27) at the time of AMI was associated with all-cause mortality (hazard ratio 2.54, 95% confidence interval 1.03 to 6.28; p = 0.04) but not cardiac mortality. However, when depression was defined by three categories (no depression CES-D < 16, mild depression CES-D 16–26, moderate to severe depression CES-D ≥ 27), it was not found to predict mortality. In addition, perceived social support was a predictor of all-cause and cardiac mortality in AMI patients. Conclusions: Our results indicate that the relationship between mortality and depression severity is not linear and that the association only becomes evident when the severity reaches a threshold level of CES-D ≥ 27, consistent with major depression. Low power may have influenced the finding of a lack of association between depression and cardiac mortality.Alexis Wheeler, John Beltrame, Graeme Tucker, Tracy Air, Liang-Han Ling and Geoffrey Schrade