The study aims to systematically review all articles on the economic evaluation (EE) of coronary stenting, to critically assess the reporting quality, and to summarize the results.

A systematic search was undertaken through seven databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, CNKI, Wanfang data, Vip data and SinoMed.) from inception until March 2021, to identify economic evaluation articles comparing coronary stenting with other therapies, or among different stenting procedures. After screening articles and extracting data independently, we summarized methods, contents, and outcomes of the included articles and appraised their methodological quality using the CHEERS (Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards) checklists. Then, the literature scores were standardized as a proportion of the total score, and stepwise multiple regression was constructed to verify the factors that might influence the quality of literature.

Of the 3,622 publications identified, 59 articles were included in this review. There were 33 cost-effectiveness studies and 26 were cost-utility studies. The quality of the reports varied between studies, with a standardized mean score of 0.76 (0.40-0.98). According to the Cheers checklist, “Introduction” had the lowest overall score (0.53), with many articles deficient in the description of the study’s perspective; “Discussion” had the highest overall score (0.86), with nearly three-quarters of the articles reporting the full content; “Title and abstract”, “Methods”, “Results”, and “Other” scored 0.71, 0.78, 0.74 and 0.66, respectively. According to the results of the stepwise multiple regression model, “Published year”, “National type”, and “Type of economic analysis” research were significantly associated with the quality of literature.

The quality of current research reports on the economics of coronary stenting is generally satisfactory, but there is potential for improvement and high quality reports can provide evidence to support decision making for policy makers.

With the increasing use of health economic evaluation (HEE) in decision-making and health resource allocation and management policy design has seen an increase in HEE studies on screening programs in China l. In addition to the quantity of HEE, the quality may be of particular concern as it influences the reliability of HEE evidence adopted in policy formulation. This study sought to assess the reporting quality of HEE on screening programs over the last 20 years in China and identify potential predictors and relevant recommendations to improve the quality of study reporting.

A search of HEE studies published in PubMed, Embase, CNKI and WANFANG from 2000 to 2021 was performed. Two reviewers independently extracted data and assessed the quality if reporting using the 24 item Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards ( CHEERS) checklist. The CHEERS score for each study was converted into standardized 0-1 point scale. General liner regression was used to identify predictors associated with the reporting quality.

One hundred and thirty-three studies met the inclusion criteria. The mean standardized score for the included studies was 0.56 (title), 0.64 (abstract), 0.74 (introduction), 0.58 (methods), 0.40 (results), 0.70 (discussion), and 0.54 (other section). The number and reporting quality of articles published each year showed an overall upward trend. A greater proportion of studies were published in Chinese journal (69.2%), modelling-based (54.9%), conducted by universities/research institutions (45.9%), focused on non-infectious disease (84.2%), using cost-effectiveness analysis method (50.4%), published in non-specialty journal (60.2%), and declaring the funding support (76.7%). Items related to study perspective, discount rate, measurement of effectiveness, currency and price, analytical methods, uncertainty, heterogeneity and conflicts were under-reported. Published year, journal type, first author affiliation and economic evaluation type predicted higher score in regression analyses (p<0.05).

Overall, the quantity and quality of HEE on screening programs in China is improving, although there is a need to improve the use of on specific reporting items in the CHEERS criteria. The use of suitable evaluation guidelines will make the decision-making process more scientific.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has become a common kind of health care in several countries, with increasing demands. This review aimed to appraise the reporting quality of economic evaluations of TCM in the National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL) of China (2020 version), based on the Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards (CHEERS) statement.

The reporting quality of included economic evaluations was assessed by two independent reviewers using the CHEERS statement.

A total of 360 articles were retrieved, but only 38 economic evaluations met the inclusion criteria. No articles were compliant with all items of the CHEERS checklist. On average, the included economic evaluations satisfactorily met 10.93 of the CHEERS items (51.31%). The least reported CHEERS checklist items included: “Characterizing heterogeneity”, “Conflicts of interest”, “Discount rate”, and “Study perspective”, with an average score of 0.00, 0.05, 0.08, and 0.16, respectively.

The economic evaluation of TCM is still at an early stage, with an urgent need for improving the reporting quality. To promote the reporting quality of economic evaluations and further development of TCM, multiple measures focusing on reporting formula, policy, training, and new methodology are required.

The incidence of beta thalassemia varies greatly in different regions of China. Blood transfusion combined with iron chelation and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is the main treatment for beta thalassemia in China. This study aimed to reveal the specific treatment schemes used for patients with beta thalassemia and to evaluate their effects.

A search strategy was developed to identify articles published between 1 January 2010 and 30 August 2021 in the following literature databases: PubMed, Embase, the China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Data, and the Chinese BioMedical Literature Database.

The most used iron chelation schemes in China for patients with beta thalassemia included deferoxamine (DFO) monotherapy, deferiprone (DFP) monotherapy, deferasirox (DFX) monotherapy, and combinations of DFP and DFO. Most studies reported that combinations of DFP, DFO, and DFX monotherapy performed better than DFO or DFP monotherapy alone in reducing the blood, heart, and liver iron load. However, the adverse effects of iron chelation affected patient compliance with treatment to a certain extent. Stem cells for patients receiving HSCT in China were mainly donated by human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-matched siblings or unrelated individuals. The five-year overall survival rate after HSCT ranged from 83 to 90 percent, while the five-year beta thalassemia-free survival rate ranged from 65 to 87 percent. Graft-versus-host disease and infection were the most common serious complications experienced by transplant recipients.

For patients in China with beta thalassemia, the most effective iron chelation treatment schemes were combinations of DFP, DFO, and DFX monotherapy. HSCT from HLA-matched siblings or unrelated donors resulted in a significant improvement in the cure rate for beta thalassemia. However, patients still need safer and more effective innovative treatments, and further evidence on existing treatments needs to be generated from larger scale studies in the Chinese population.

With the disease spectrum changing in China, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has become the main chronic disease which affects people’s health severely, bring patients serious economic burden of disease. For T2DM patients, reliable quality of evidence in decision-making are significant, improving the efficiency of the adjustment of the National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL). Based on the Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards (CHEERS), we aimed to evaluate the quality of all published pharmacoeconomic evaluations on T2DM drugs in 2020 NRDL.

Because the 2020 NRDL came into effect on 1 March 2021, we searched all published pharmacoeconomic evaluations about T2DM drugs in 2020 NRDL before March 2021 in China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wan fang Data, China Science and Technology Journal Database (VIP), PubMed, and Web of Science. According to the criterion of inclusion and exclusion, all documents were screened and then relevant basic information of targeted documents was extracted. The quality was evaluated by calculating the final scores based on CHEERS. Two reviewers assessed each publication’s quality using the CHEERS instrument and summarized study quality.

A total of 910 papers were searched, and 24 papers were included. These involved six T2DM drugs, specifically IDegAsp, exenatide, liraglutide, lixisenatide, dapagliflozin and empagliflozin. The average score was 18.31, the standard deviation was 3.67, and the average scoring rate was 77.41 percent. Among all items, “characterizing heterogeneity” scored 0.04, least satisfied with requirements. “Setting and location”, “choice of health outcomes” and “assumptions” scored one, most satisfied with requirements. Among the average scores of all parts, “results” scored lowest at 0.55, and “methods” scored highest at 0.85. The Wilcoxon sum-rank tests showed that score rate which represented reporting quality of economic evaluation (EE) was significantly related to “journal type”, “EEs type”, “model choice” and “study perspective”.

The methodological quality of pharmacoeconomic evaluations about T2DM drugs in 2020 NRDL needs to be improved. Improving the quality of literature is the basic guarantee of scientific decision-making in national medical insurance negotiation.

According to the Healthy China 2030 Plan, children under 5 years is the main focus group to achieve universal health and sustainable development of China. To identify the major threats to children’s health, we analyzed and compared the burden of disease and risk factors among children under 5 years in China and other regions.

Indicators were gathered from the Global Burden of Disease 2019, which included the standardized rates and risk factors of mortality and DALYs of children under 5 years in China, Western Europe, North America and the world from 1990 to 2019. Paired t-test or Wilcoxon test were used to compare the rates based on gender. A joinpoint regression model was used to analyze the trend, and the Annual Percent of Change (APC) was calculated and statistically tested.

From 1990 to 2019, the all-cause mortality and DALYs of children under 5 years in China decreased from 1 153.81/100 000 to 160.39/100 000 and 104 426.40/100 000 to 16 479.01/100 000, respectively. The top 3 causes of both death and DALYs were neonatal preterm birth, congenital heart anomalies, lower respiratory infections. The top 3 risk factors of both death and DALYs were low birth weight, short gestation, child wasting. Unintentional injuries, behavioral and environmental risks posed greater threats to children compared with other regions. The rates of mortality and DALYs of the top 15 diseases and injuries in boys and girls showed a downward trend (p<0.05), and most of them were higher in boys than girls (p<0.05).

The burden of diseases among children under 5 years in China has decreased significantly from 1990 to 2019. Compared to other regions, it remains to strengthen the prevention and control of preterm birth, birth defects and unintentional injuries, and to adopt targeted gender-specific interventions. Promoting the parenting behavior and multiple social security may also affects children’s health status.

To examine the association between physician–patient treatments shared decision making (SDM), patient satisfaction, and adoption of a new health technology.

A cross-sectional study was conducted from July 2016 to October 2016 in Fujian Province and Shanghai, in Eastern China. A total of 542 physicians and 619 patients in eleven hospitals were surveyed. Patients and their treating physicians completed self-reported questionnaires on patient–physician SDM, satisfaction with treatment decision making and adoption of a new health technology. Correlation analysis, multivariate logistic regression and multivariate linear regression were performed.

The majority (68.20 percent) of patients preferred SDM. Involvement of patients in SDM was positively associated with their satisfaction with treatment decision making (p < .001) and adoption of a new health technology (p < .05). Better concordance between their preference and actual SDM was positively associated with patients' adoption behavior (p < .05), but no statistically significant association was found between concordance and satisfaction.

SDM was the most important predictor of patients' satisfaction with decision making and adoption of a new health technology. Therefore, better communication between physicians and patients is recommended to improve their SDM, increase patient satisfaction and to assist with the adoption of new technologies. Training healthcare provider and teaching communication skills in working with patients in the initial stage of technology diffusion is required.

Physicians' attitudes and adoption behavior toward the delivery of prenatal tests take vital significance for its influence on their professional practice and patient acceptance. This study aimed to identify how physicians have perceived the diffusion of non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) in China.

A cross-sectional study was conducted from July 2016 to October 2016 in Shanghai, and Fujian and Sichuan Provinces in China. Physicians working on prenatal screening completed a self-report questionnaire. Following Roger's diffusion of innovation model, multivariable logistic regressions were performed separately for the following key elements of the theory which influence diffusion: physician-perceived attributes of NIPT, communication channels, the nature of the social system, the extent of change agent (who introduces innovations into a society), promotion efforts, and physicians' benefits from adopting NIPT.

Most specialists had a positive attitude (53.2 percent) toward NIPT, whereas 58.9 percent of physicians had already adopted NIPT in their clinical practice. Physician adoption of NIPT was positively associated with the strength of HTA evidence (p = .03), perceived communication frequency with colleagues (p = .04), adoption by other physicians (p = .07), hospital competition (p = .06), hospital teaching status (p = .02), perceived for-profit genetic testing company's promotion (p < .001), and perceived clinical practice skill improvement (p = .02). However, the adoption behavior toward NIPT may be negatively associated with physician-perceived ethical concerns of NIPT (p = .06).

Obstetricians and gynecologists’ positive perceptions facilitate the adoption of NIPT. Combined with cost-effectiveness analysis of prenatal screening methods, health policy makers can promote the adoption of appropriate, cost-effective prenatal screening in pregnant women.

To analyze the current development of HTA in China and to identify areas for improvement, we mapped the level of HTA development in China and compared it with the level of HTA development in ten other countries using a survey instrument.

We launched a nationwide survey targeting different stakeholders. For this purpose, we used a validated instrument that enables mapping HTA development in a country using eight domains. The views of the respondents regarding the overall level of HTA development and for each domain were compared with the results of a mapping study that included ten countries.

In total, we received 222 responses, 33 from policy-makers, 158 from researchers, and 31 from industry, as well as health provider representatives including 8 from hospitals, centers for disease control and prevention. We calculated the mean score for the level of HTA development. The overall HTA development for China was scored at 76.4 (out of a maximum of 146). Although the total score for China was comparable to the mean score of 75.6 among the ten countries, China scored significantly lower than the mean score of 117.0 among the three developed countries. In addition, China scored significantly lower in the domain of institutionalization compared to the other ten countries.

China needs to tackle the issue of low HTA institutionalization to strengthen the foundation of HTA development. Future government initiatives that institutionalize HTA, for example, establishing a national HTA system or consortium, will improve the development of HTA in China.

There is little evidence in China regarding the cost-effectiveness of non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) for Down syndrome (DS). This study aims to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of NIPT and provide evidence to inform decision-making.

To determine the cost-effectiveness of NIPT for DS, a decision-analytic model was developed using the TreeAge Pro software from a societal perspective in a simulated cohort of 10 000 pregnant women. Main indicators were based on field surveys from sampled hospitals in four locations in China and a literature review.

The conventional maternal serum screening (CMSS) strategy, contingent screening strategy (NIPT delivered to high risk pregnant women after CMSS), and universal screening strategy could prevent 3.02, 7.53, and 9.97 DS births, respectively. NIPT would decrease unnecessary invasive procedures, resulting in fewer procedure-related miscarriages. The cost-effectiveness ratio of the contingent screening strategy was the lowest. When compared with the CMSS strategy, the incremental cost per DS birth averted by the contingent screening strategy and universal screening strategy were USD 20,160 and 352,388, respectively. One-way sensitivity analysis showed that, if the cost of NIPT could be decreased to USD 76.92, the cost-effectiveness ratio of the universal screening strategy would be lower than the CMSS strategy.

Although NIPT has the merits of greater effectiveness and safety, CMSS is unlikely to be replaced by NIPT at this time because of NIPT's higher cost. Contingent screening may be an appropriate strategy to balance the effectiveness and cost factors of the new genetic testing technology.

With the rapid increase in technologies and innovations to support a growing aging population in many countries, health technology assessment (HTA) of technologies for the aging populace warrants special consideration. Building on our efforts at Health Technology Assessment international (HTAi) conferences in 2016 and 2017, this presentation will highlight themes generated from two previous HTAi collaborations, with an aim of continuing to build interest and capacity in HTA for aging-related technologies in an international ecosystem that is responsive to local needs and global opportunities.

Researchers from Canada's technology and aging network (AGE-WELL) collaborated with international panelists at HTAi conferences in 2016 and 2017 to explore interest in HTA focused on aging. International panelists shared the current state of aging and HTA in their respective countries. At both sessions, opportunities were provided for participants to rate the importance of themes identified by the panelists.

At the 2016 session, the two most highly ranked themes were: (i) how HTA can help identify the unmet needs of older adults in society that could be met by technology; and (ii) engagement of older adults and caregivers. These two themes became the starting point for the panel discussion in 2017. At this session, the highest ranked themes were: (i) identification of challenges in HTA and aging; (ii) approaches to advancing the effectiveness of HTA in addressing technology and aging; and (iii) development of an aging-related interest group in HTAi.

International collaborations have identified a number of recommendations to consider for HTA and aging-related work including: developing a good mutual awareness and understanding of barriers and opportunities; the importance of co-creating solutions with patients, healthcare providers, researchers, innovators, and funders; and the identification of a suite of methods and tools that can help accelerate technological innovation in care delivery.

Paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) represents a significant economic burden to the healthcare system. Catheter ablation is a commonly adopted treatments for PAF, and cryoballoon ablation (CBA) has been recently proven to be as effective as radiofrequency ablation (RFA). This study aims to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of CBA versus RFA in patients with drug-refractory PAF in China.

A Markov model was developed to study the effects and the costs of CBA versus RFA. Cost and probability inputs data were obtained mainly from a real-world study of 85 CBA and 284 RFA patients treated in a tertiary hospital between July 2014 and July 2016. Propensity score matching was used to overcome retrospective bias, resulting in including 75 patients in each group. Input data gaps were closed with literature review and advisory board. A simulation was carried out for 14 cycles/years, and a discount rate of 3 percent was used. Then, a probabilistic sensitivity analysis was carried out with Monte Carlo approach.

In the base case scenario, the cumulative costs incurred by the CBA and RFA groups were CNY 132,222 (USD 20,767) and CNY 147,304 (USD 23,136), respectively. Over the 14-year period, the quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) gained by the CBA group was 7.85 versus 7.71 in the RFA group. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio for CBA versus RFA was thus CNY 107,729 (USD 16,920)/QALY. Model results were most sensitive to the cost incurred during the first hospitalization, recurrence rate, and relative utility weights. The probability of CBA being cost-effective for willingness to pay thresholds of per capita GDP in China was estimated to be 99 percent.

Compared with RFA, CBA is a cost-saving treatment providing increased QALYs. It represents good value for money for patients with drug-refractory PAF in China. However, further evidence needs to be generated from larger-scale studies in China.

Shared decision-making (SDM) is an essential component of patient-centered care, involving communication and discussions between physicians and patients on various options to meet their health needs. This study examines the current situation of patients’ participation in decision-making in relation to the clinical application of drug-eluting stents (DES). Further, the impact of patients’ involvement in decision-making on patients' adoption of DES was analyzed, with a view to providing research outcomes to guide clinical practice.

A cross-sectional study was conducted from July to December 2016 in selected hospitals in Fujian Province, Sichuan Province, and Shanghai in China. Patients with coronary heart disease completed a survey, which contained the 9-item Shared Decision-Making Questionnaire (SDM-Q-9) about satisfaction with decision-making processes, and questions on DES. Data were analyzed with cluster analysis, correlation analysis, multivariate logistic regression, and multivariate linear regression.

One hundred and seventy-nine patients with coronary heart disease from 15 hospitals in the three regions completed the questionnaire. There were good validity and reliability for SDM-Q-9, with Cronbach's alpha as 0.96 and intra-class correlations 0.59–0.79 (all P < 0.01). Among these respondents, 42.1 percent adopted DES, 83.4 percent were supportive of SDM and 61.33 percent thought they had better communication with physicians regarding decision-making. Patients’ level of SDM involvement was found to be positively associated with their satisfaction with the decision-making process (P < 0.001) and their adoption of DES (P < 0.05). Also, satisfaction with shared decision-making regarding treatment was positively associated with adoption of DES (P < 0.001).

Most of the patients with coronary heart disease preferred SDM, and SDM was found to be an important predictor of patients’ satisfaction with decision-making processes and adoption of DES. Better communication between physicians and patients is needed in order to improve patients’ satisfaction and promote the appropriate use of DES technology in China.

With the increase in technologies to support an aging population, health technology assessment (HTA) of aging-related technologies warrants special consideration. At Health Technology Assessment international (HTAi) 2016 and HTAi 2017, an international panel explored interests in HTA focused on aging.

Panelists from five countries shared the state of aging and HTA in their countries. Opportunities were provided for participants to discuss and rate the themes identified by the panelists.

In 2016, the highest ranked themes were: (i) identifying unmet needs of older adults that could be met by technology—how can HTA help?; (ii) differences in assessment of aging-related technologies—what is the scope?; and (iii) involvement of older adults and caregivers. These themes became the starting point for discussion in 2017, for which the highest ranked themes were: (i) identification of challenges in HTA and aging; and (ii) approaches to advancing effectiveness of HTA for aging.

These discussions allowed for examination of future directions for HTA and aging: engagement of older adults to inform the agenda of HTA and the broader public policy enterprise; a systems approach to thinking about needs of older persons should support the type and level of care desired by the individual rather than the health institutions, and HTA should reflect these desires when evaluating technological aides; and there is potential for health information systems and “big data” to support HTA activities that assess usability of technologies for older adults. We hope to build on the momentum of this community to continue exploring opportunities for aging and HTA.

Pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) is a new effective treatment for atrial fibrillation (AF) (1). The standard of care for ablation methods using radiofrequency (RF) is time-consuming and technically challenging (2), and restricted to a few specialized centers, which causes the limited availability of ablation therapy (3). Therefore, cryoballoon (CB) ablation has been developed to shorten and simplify the procedure. The objective of this systematic literature review and meta-analysis was to compare the effectiveness of cryoballoon ablation (CBA) with radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for the treatment of AF.

We searched the Cochrane Library and PubMed from 2009 to October 2016 to screen the eligible literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The effectiveness measures were the acute pulmonary vein (PV) isolation rate, procedure time, complications and the proportion of patients free from AF (follow-up > 3 months). Meta-analysis and descriptive statistics were used in this study.

A total of seventeen articles with 5,806 cases (2,288 from CBA group, 3,518 from RFA group) from seven different countries were reviewed and analyzed. Pooled analyses indicated that CBA was more beneficial in terms of procedural time (Standard mean difference, SMD = -.501; 95%CI: -.893– -.109; P<.05) for RFA; but the acute PV isolation rate (Odds ratio, OR = .06; 95 percent Confidence Interval, CI: .03–.13; P < .05) in RFA was higher than for CBA; also, after median follow-up of 14 months (range 9–28 months), the proportion of patients free from AF (OR = .965; 95 percent CI:.859—1.085; P = .554) and the total complication rates (OR = .937; 95 percent CI:.753–1.167; P = .562) were not significantly different between CBA and RFA.

In the four randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of the seventeen studies, the proportion of patients free from AF (OR = .951; 95 percent CI:.752–1.202; P = .672) and the complications (OR = 1.521; 95 percent CI:.570–4.058; P = .402) were not significantly different between CBA and RFA.

Overall, compared with RFA for the treatment of patients with AF, CBA had similar clinical effectiveness on the proportion of people free from AF and the number of complications, and yet greater improvement in total procedure time referred for CBA and higher acute PVI rate referred for RFA.

With the promotion of a tiered medical service system, secondary hospitals will play a more important role in the future. This study aims to explore the cost-benefit of computed tomography (CT) in secondary hospitals in China, with a view to providing information for overall economic management in hospitals as well as for regional planning of medical equipment in different areas.

Fifty-eight secondary hospitals from six provinces located in the eastern, central, and western regions of China were selected as the study sample. Questionnaires were used to collect information on the cost structure, efficiency, and benefits of CT in the secondary hospitals in the past 5 years. Cost analysis was conducted from the perspective of the hospitals, which mainly referred to direct fixed costs and variable costs. We analyzed the investment recovery years a, cost recovery rate b, and benefit-cost ratio to evaluate the economic benefits of CT. We also analyzed the technological benefits of CT based on its effective utilization rate c and positive detection rate.

1. a: Investment recovery years = total original investment / (annual net income + annual depreciation expense)

2. b: Cost recovery rate = average income per check / average cost per check

3. c: Effective utilization rate = single equipment utilization rate * positive detection rate

4. (Single equipment utilization rate = actual working time / rated working time)

Depreciation costs (36.3 percent) were the largest proportion of all costs over the 5-year period, followed by material costs (22.2 percent), maintenance costs (18.2 percent), labor costs (17.1 percent), and electricity consumption (1.2 percent). The investment recovery periods of CT in the eastern, central, and western regions were 2.5, 2.8, and 3.1 years, respectively; the cost recovery rates were 186.5 percent, 172.0 percent, and 174.1 percent, respectively; the benefit-cost ratios were 1.9, 1.7, and 1.7, respectively; the effective utilization rates were 46.1 percent, 58.3 percent, and 71.2 percent, respectively; and the positive detection rates were 52.3 percent, 60.5 percent, and 73.3 percent, respectively.

The current study indicates that the cost-benefit of CT is good in secondary hospitals, especially in terms of economic benefits. But to achieve greater technological benefits in all three regions, more appropriate utilization of CT is needed.