Choosing an Epidemiological Model Structure for Economic Evaluation
2016
This review presents a taxonomy of epidemiological model structures and applies it to the economic evaluation of public health interventions for non-communicable diseases. Growing pressures on health services and on social care have led to a greater need for prevention of chronic diseases. In order for decision makers to make informed judgements about how to best spend finite public health resources, they must be able to quantify the anticipated costs, benefits, and opportunity costs of each prevention option available.
Through a discussion of the pros and cons of model structures and examples of their application to public health interventions, the authors suggest that individual-level models may be better than population-level models for estimating the effects of population heterogeneity. Furthermore, model structures allowing for interactions between populations, their environment, and time are often better suited to complex multifaceted interventions. Other influences on the choice of model structure include time and available resources, and the availability and relevance of previously developed models.
Choosing an Epidemiological Model Structure for Economic Evaluation
Source:
Briggs ADM, Wolstenholme J, Blakely T et al. Choosing an Epidemiological Model Structure for the Economic Evaluation of Non-Communicable Disease Public Health Interventions. Population Health Metrics 2016; 14: 17. https://dx.doi.org/10.1186%2Fs12963-016-0085-1