Objective To comprehensively summarize and analyze the status quo, assessing contents and problems of the assessment studies on appropriate health technology in China. Methods With the search terms and strategies predefined by repeated discussion and pre-retrieval, all literature on appropriate health technology assessment in China published from October 1949 to March 2012 were searched in the following databases: CBM, VIP, CNKI and WanFang Data. According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, two reviewers independently screened literature, and extracted and cross-checked data. Disagreements were resolved by discussion or by involving a third researcher. The qualitative synthesis method was used to analyze the studies. Results Among total 174 included studies, 117 were cross-sectional. Targeted populations were patients and community residents who had received the service or treatment of appropriate health technology, as well as the grassroots medical staffs and workers from marketing organization who had used or carried out the appropriate health technologies. Appropriate health technologies mainly contained four fields of appropriate health technology: traditional Chinese medicine, western medicine, family planning services and community health services. Most types of diseases involved in those technologies were circulatory system diseases, and high blood pressure was highly concerned. The contents of appropriate health technology assessment mainly included 6 aspects: effectiveness, acceptability, economic characteristics, requirements, safety and technical specific property. The results of the included studies indicated that, most assessments focused on just one aspect, and were lack of comprehensive evaluation. The indexes used in each assessment covered a far too wide range, and was lack of unified index and standards. Conclusion Current studies show that the fields of appropriate health technology assessment distribute widely; the assessment content is simple and lack of comprehensive evaluation; the assessment index system has no unified standard; and the study design methods are different and lack of high quality study design. So it is necessary to conduct high quality assessment studies, establish scientific assessment index system, and systematically assess appropriate health technology, so as to provide more scientific basis for health decision makers.
ObjectiveTo investigate the health technologies on diabetes prevention and management used in rural China and the assessment results of these health technologies, and to provide references for the selection and using of health technologies on diabetes prevention and management in rural China.
MethodsWe searched VIP, CNKI, CBM and WanFang Data to collect survey studies and assessment reports of health technologies on diabetes prevention and management in rural China. The search date was up to July 15th, 2014. Two reviewers independently screened literature, and then the qualitative analysis was performed for the included studies.
ResultsA total of 15 studies were included. The results of qualitative analysis showed that:the targeted populations were patients and ordinary villagers who had received the service or treatment of diabetes health technology in rural, as well as the grassroots medical technical personnel and promotion staffs who had developed the health technologies. Diabetes health technology studies in rural mainly included medical personnel health technology related knowledge training. The contents of health technology assessment involved effectiveness, acceptability, economic characteristics, requirements and technical specific property.
ConclusionThere was limited researches on the investigation and analysis of health technologies on diabetes prevention and management in rural China, and evaluation content remains insufficient.
ObjectiveCapsule endoscopy (CE) has been widely used in the diagnosis of small bowel disease (SBD) in the world. To bring CE into the national health insurance directory, and intensify its popularization in primary hospitals, the government needs high quality health technology assessment (HTA) evidence for decision making. This study was aimed to comprehensively evaluate the effectiveness, safety, applicability and economics of CE in the diagnosis of SBD based on global review, to providing the best currently-available evidence for decision making.
MethodsWe electronically searched The Cochrane Library (Issue 8, September 2013), PubMed, EMbase, INAHTA, VIP, CBM, CNKI and WanFang Data. We screened studies, extracted data, and evaluated quality independently, according to inclusion and exclusion criteria; and then we made final conclusion after comprehensive analysis.
ResultsWe finally included 4 HTAs, 11 systematic reviews (SRs)/ Meta-analyses, 2 randomized controlled trials (RCTs), 5 guidelines, and 10 economics studies for assessment. The results of HTAs, SRs/ meta-analyses and RCTs all showed that, the disease detection rate of CE was higher than that of many other traditional technologies, and that the main adverse event for CE was retention (0.7% to 3.0%), which were consistent with those of the guidelines' recommendations. Besides, the comprehensive results of economics studies showed the superiority of CE compared with other technologies. As the first choice, CE could significantly decrease potential costs, especially when used in outpatients.
Conclusiona) Compared with similar technologies, CE indeed has advantages in diagnostic yield, safety and potential costs in the diagnosis of SBD. However, its application has certain limitations, which still needs to be verified by more high quality evidence about CE diagnosis accuracy. b) It is sug gested that, when the government approves the introduction of CE to hospitals, many factors must be considered, such as local disease burden, clinical demands, ability to pay, and staff configuration. At the same time, it is necessary to standardize training for medical technicians, to reduce economic loss caused by poor technical abilities of medicaltechnicians.
ObjectiveTo analyze the research status and hot spots of health technology assessment (HTA). MethodsDatabases including China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and PubMed were searched to collect published studies on HTA. The software of BICOMS-2 and VOSviewer 1.6.10 was used to draw the network diagram and to conduct cluster analysis of keywords. ResultsA total of 1170 studies in Chinese and 8584 studies in English were included. The number of HTA-related publications increased annually, among which countries with the most publications were the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Fudan University had the largest number of studies published in Chinese and York University had the largest number of studies published in English. The research topics mainly focused on hospital HTA, HTA decision transformation research, pharmacoeconomic evaluation, etc. The most frequent diseases were cancer and depression. Emerging keywords were real-word evidence, randomized controlled trials, cost-benefit analysis, etc. ConclusionHTA-related studies increase annually. Many HTA-related studies are performed in developed countries, such as the United States and the United Kingdom. The relevant research topics involve hospital HTA, HTA decision-making transformation research, and pharmacoeconomic evaluation. Current research focus is on the evaluation of health economics in the field of cancer based on the evidence of real-world research and randomized controlled trials.
ObjectivesThe primary objectives of this rapid health technology assessment (RHTA) were to assess the safety and effectiveness of Da Vinci surgical system compared with traditional e surgeries, so as to provide the currently-available best evidence for health decision makers and clinical workers.
MethodsA comprehensive search of electronic databases (EMbase, PubMed, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CNKI, VIP, CBM and WanFang Data) and relevant professional HTA websites were conducted from inceptionto October 9, 2012. Two reviews independently screen literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, extracted data, and assess the quality of included studies. The data based on secondary studies were reported, and a final recommendation and its level was made based on assessment outcome.
ResultsA total of 21 studies were included, encompassing 7 HTAs and 14 systematic reviews/metaanalyses. The included studies involved radical prostatectomy, hysterectomy, nephrectomy, coronary artery bypass graft, and gastric fundoplication. Though the included HTAs and systematic reviews/meta-analyses focus on different diseases, the outcomes showed significant differences existed between Da Vinci surgical system and other routine surgery in clinical effectiveness and safety of different diseases. Compared with routine surgery, Da Vinci surgical system shortened hospital stay; decreased operation conversion rates, blood loss and blood transfusion rates during surgery; but it increased operative time. Besides, compared with traditional laparoscopic surgery, Da Vinci surgical system shortened operation time and hospital stay, and decreased operation conversion rates, blood loss and blood transfusion rates during surgery.
ConclusionCurrent evidence shows that the clinical effectiveness and safety outcomes of Da Vinci surgical system differ in diseases. Currently, most included HTAs and systematic reviews/meta-analyses are based on observational studies, relevant prospective randomized controlled trials lack, and the evidence is graded as low quality, health decision makers are suggested to apply this evidence with caution on the basis of comprehensive consideration.
Objective To evaluate the clinical effectiveness, safety, cost-effectiveness of eight angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) in order to provide evidence for adjustment of Essential Drug List in China. Method Collecting all clinical trials by searching Medline, Cochrane Library, Embase and Chinese Biomedical Database and conducting critical appraisal. High quality randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews were included to assess the effectiveness of ACEIs. Non-randomized controlled trials were also included to evaluate the safety and cost-effectiveness. Results New generation of ACEIs are better than enalapril and captopril in antihypertension and endurance. Meta-analysis showed that T/P ratio was less than 50% in prindopril, benazepril and captopril. Enalapril and captopril had the most adequate evidence in the treatment of chronic heart failure. The effects of lisinopril, prindopril, benazepril and cilazapril positive influence on heart failure were assessed by surrogates. Captopril, lisinopril could reduce the total death rate of acute period (during 36 hours of AMI). Enalapril, captopril, ramipril and prindopril had the effect of heart protection in late period of AMI (3 days after AMI). Only ramipril, lisinopril and prindopril had evidence to support the protective effect on cerebral vessels. The available evidence, though not adequate, showed all the ACEIs except benazepril could diminish proteinuria and delay the renal failure. The new generations of ACEIs were similar in adverse reactions to enalapril and captopril, while incidences were lower than enalapril and captopril. Few evidence on cost-effectiveness of ACEIs were identified. The available evidence showed enalapril was cost-effective in treating heart failure. However, it compromised to lisinopril. The studies on ethics were not available. Conclusions It was difficult to generally rank the eight ACEIs according to available evidence. Not all eight ACEIs had adequate evidence in organs protection. It was suggested that clinicians should select ACEIs with adequate evidence to treat patients on states.
ObjectiveTo construct rapid health technology assessment (RHTA) reporting norms, with a view to providing methodological references for RHTA research and reporting. MethodsBased on the preliminary pool of entries constructed by the literature research results, and taking into account the characteristics of RHTA, a Delphi expert correspondence questionnaire was designed, and 25 experts in the field of HTA were selected to conduct multiple rounds of expert correspondence. By calculating the expert authority coefficient and opinion coordination coefficient, combined with the average value of the entry score, coefficient of variation and full score ratio, the entries were selected to form the list of RHTA report specifications. ResultsThe positive coefficient of experts in both rounds of investigation was 100%, the expert authority coefficient in the first round was 0.858, and the expert authority coefficient in the second round was 0.838. The Kendall coordination coefficient in the first round was 0.169, and in the second round it was 0.081. According to the correspondence of 2 rounds of investigation, the final formation included 8 aspects, 26 first-level entries and 18 second-level entries in the list of RHTA report specifications. ConclusionThis study constructed the RHTA report specification, which is both scientific and operable, providing a reference for RHTA report writing.
Objective To assess the effectiveness and safety of nine lipid-lowing agents in the national essential drug list (2000) and provide evidence for the adjustment and selection of essential drugs. Methods Based on principles of health technology assessment (HTA) and evidence-based medicine, we searched for all published clinical studies about these drugs from the following databases: MEDLINE (1966-2002.8), The Cochrane Library, EMBASE (1974-2002), CBMdisk (1979-2002.8) and VIP (1989-2002.8), the database of National Center for Adverse Drug Reaction(ADR) Monitoring of China and the database of WHO Uppsala drug monitoring center. Included studies were appraised, analyzed and compared for the reduction of triglyceride (TC) or low density lipoprotein (LDL-C), the prevention for the coronary events and the incidence of ADR. Results The results from comparative trials for lipid-lowing agents showed that the equivalent dose of statins for 25% reduction of LDL-C was atorvastatin 10 mg/d, simvastatin 20 mg/d, pravastatin 40mg/d, lovastatin 40 mg/d, cerivastatin 0.3 mg/d and fluvastatin 80 mg/d. It was difficult to compare fenofibrate with gemfibrozil, acipimox with statins or fibrates based on available data. The study on the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular events showed that pravastatin and lovastatin were effective in primary prevention, and long-term use could reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease.Gemfibrozil could reduce the mortality from coronary heart disease (CHD) but the overall mortality was not changed. Pravastatin, simvastatin, atorvastatin, fluvastatin, gemfibrozil and fenofibrate had a confirmed effect in secondary prevention. Data from large-scale clinical trials and the reports from ADR monitoring center of England, America, Canada and Australia suggested that the statins which had rare ADR were safe and tolerated. Rhabdomyolysis was rare but had a serious adverse reaction associated with statins. The rate of fatal rhabdomyolysis related to cerivastatin was the highest among 6 statins. The safety of simvastatin, lovastatin and atorvastatin was lower than cerivastatin but higher than simvastatin and atorvastatin. The number of ADR reports of fenofibrate was fewer than that of gemfibrozil. Conclusions At present, the best evidence focused on pravastatin, simvastatin and lovastatin are widely used and have a confirmed safety and efficacy. Atorvastatin, fluvastatin and fenofibrate still need more data to confirm their effects on coronary heart disease prevention. The drugs which were shown to be inferior or insufficient evidence are cerivastatin, gemfibrozil and acipimox.
Hospital-based health technology assessment (HB-HTA) refers to the practice of health technology assessment for hospital management decision-making based on the actual situations in hospitals. It includes processes and methods of health technology assessment carried out in and for hospitals. Under the background of comprehensively promoting the reform of public hospitals in China, HB-HTA is undoubtedly an important scientific method to enhance the fine management of public hospitals and implement the policy of medical reform. This paper introduced the concept, the international and domestic development status, the characteristics of HB-HTA, and put forward the scheme of development of HB-HTA macroscopically, so as to promote the popularization and applications of HB-HTA in China.
Health insurance system has been proved to be an effective way to promote the quality of health service in many countries. However, how to control health expenditure under health insurance system remains a problem to be resolved. Some developed countries like UK, Canada and Sweden linked their health technology assessment results with decision making and health insurance management, and made prominent achievements in both expenditure control and quality improvement. China is carrying out its health system reform and running a new health insurance project. Using the experiences of other countries is undoubtedly of great importance in developing and managing our health insurance system.
