Editing Cost-effectiveness analysis (section)

{{Short description|Economic analysis that compares the relative costs and outcomes of different courses of action}}
{{Missing information|calculation|date=November 2022}}

'''Cost-effectiveness analysis''' ('''CEA''') is a form of [[economic analysis]] that compares the relative costs and outcomes (effects) of different courses of action. Cost-effectiveness analysis is distinct from [[cost–benefit analysis]], which assigns a monetary value to the measure of effect.<ref name=CEAvCBA>{{cite journal |vauthors=Bleichrodt H, Quiggin J |title=Life-cycle preferences over consumption and health: when is cost-effectiveness analysis equivalent to cost–benefit analysis? |journal=J Health Econ |volume=18 |issue=6 |pages=681–708 |date=December 1999 |pmid=10847930 |doi= 10.1016/S0167-6296(99)00014-4|url=http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:10955/Ceacba99.pdf}}</ref> Cost-effectiveness analysis is often used in the field of health services, where it may be inappropriate to [[monetize]] health effect. Typically the CEA is expressed in terms of a ratio where the denominator is a gain in health from a measure (years of life, premature births averted, sight-years gained) and the numerator is the cost associated with the health gain.<ref>{{cite book | author = Gold MR | title = Cost-effectiveness in health and medicine | page = xviii|display-authors=etal}}</ref> The most commonly used outcome measure is [[quality-adjusted life year]]s (QALY).<ref name=CEAvCBA/>

[[Cost–utility analysis]] is similar to cost-effectiveness analysis. Cost-effectiveness analyses are often visualized on a plane consisting of [[quadrant (plane geometry)|four quadrants]], the cost represented on one axis and the effectiveness on the other axis.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Black|first=William|title=A Graphical Representation of Cost-Effectiveness |journal=Med Decis Making|year=1990|volume=10|issue=3|pages=212–214|doi=10.1177/0272989x9001000308|pmid=2115096|s2cid=2056683}}</ref> Cost-effectiveness analysis focuses on maximising the average level of an outcome, [[distributional cost-effectiveness analysis]] extends the core methods of CEA to incorporate concerns for the distribution of outcomes as well as their average level and make trade-offs between equity and efficiency, these more sophisticated methods are of particular interest when analysing interventions to tackle [[health inequality]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Asaria|first1=M|last2=Griffin|first2=S|last3=Cookson|first3=R|title=Distributional Cost-Effectiveness Analysis: A Tutorial.|journal=Medical Decision Making |date=January 2016|volume=36|issue=1|pages=8–19|pmid=25908564|doi=10.1177/0272989x15583266|pmc=4853814}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Asaria|first1=M|last2=Griffin|first2=S|last3=Cookson|first3=R|last4=Whyte|first4=S|last5=Tappenden|first5=P|title=Distributional cost-effectiveness analysis of health care programmes--a methodological case study of the UK Bowel Cancer Screening Programme.|journal=Health Economics|date=June 2015|volume=24|issue=6|pages=742–54|pmid=24798212|doi=10.1002/hec.3058|url=http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/107248/1/Asaria_et_al_2015_Health_Economics.pdf|doi-access=free}}</ref>