Question

Explain cost utility analysis (CUA) in clinical research  and give several examples

400 words no plagiarism, no bullet points please.

Answer 1

Cost utility analysis (CUA) is the most sophisticated form of phermacoeconomic analysis in which the incremental cost of a program from a particular point of view is compared to the incremental health improvement expressed in the unit of quality adjusted life years (QALYs) [6]. CUA is used to express the cost in terms of utilities, to say in quantity and quality of life. Differing from cost-benefit analysis, cost-utility analysis is used to compare two different drugs or methods whose benefits may be different. CUA expresses the value for money in terms of a single type of health results. The ICER in this case is usually expressed as the incremental expenses to gain an extra QALY. This approach incorporates both increases in survival time and changes in quality of life into one analysis. An increased quality of life (QoL) is expressed as a utility value on a scale of 0 (dead) to one (ideal quality of life). The use of CUR enables the cost of earning a health benefit by treatment with a drug to be feasible against similar ratios calculated for other health interventions (e.g., surgery or screening by mammography). It therefore provides a broader area in which to make judgments about the value for money of using a particular drug.

CUA is a special case of CEA, where the numerator of the ICER is a measure of cost and the denominator is measured typically using a metric called the QALY. A QALY accounts for both survival and QoL benefits incorporated with the use of a healthcare technology. The QoL component of the QALY is measured using a metric known as a health utility; hence, the term cost-utility analysis is used to describe this form of CEA. Given that the QALY can be used to measure the survival and QoL benefits of a healthcare technology, the QALY can serve as a common metric from which to compare the benefits of very different healthcare technologies. The improvement from one health state to another after an intervention can also be measured using utility research.