Pharmacoeconomics Analysis in a Pediatric Population

Background. Pharmacoeconomics is becoming increasingly important in the health-care environment, but pharmacoeconomic studies are fraught with problems. Pharmacoeconomics can be applied to analysis of the benefits of pharmacologic hemostasis. Methods. This article reviews the available methods of pharmacoeconomic analysis and their inherent methodologic concerns. It reviews pharmacoeconomic studies of pharmacologic hemostasis, with particular focus on the Pediatric Reoperative Open Heart Surgery study. In this study, patients were randomized to receive either high-dose aprotinin, low-dose aprotinin, or placebo. Results were analyzed from the viewpoint of cost-benefit, cost-effectiveness calculated with use of a roll-back decision tree, and cost-effective ratios. Results. Cost-benefit analysis showed low-dose aprotinin to have a greater cost-benefit than high-dose aprotinin, cost-effectiveness analysis and analysis of cost-effective ratios showed high-dose aprotinin to be more cost-effective than low-dose aprotinin, and all analyses showed aprotinin to be preferable to placebo. Conclusions. Aprotinin in pediatric repeat open heart operations not only has a cost-benefit but is cost-effective as well.