Health economic evidence gaps and methodological constraints in low back pain and neck pain: Results of the Research Agenda for Health Economic Evaluation (RAHEE) project

Publication date: December 2016 Source:Best Practice & Research Clinical Rheumatology, Volume 30, Issue 6 Author(s): J.M. van Dongen, J. Ketheswaran, D. Tordrup, R.W.J.G. Ostelo, R. Bertollini, M.W. van Tulder Despite the increased interest in economic evaluations, there are difficulties in applying the results of such studies in practice. Therefore, the “Research Agenda for Health Economic Evaluation” (RAHEE) project was initiated, which aimed to improve the use of health economic evidence in practice for the 10 highest burden conditions in the European Union (including low back pain [LBP] and neck pain [NP]). This was done by undertaking literature mapping and convening an Expert Panel meeting, during which the literature mapping results were discussed and evidence gaps and methodological constraints were identified. The current paper is a part of the RAHEE project and aimed to identify economic evidence gaps and methodological constraints in the LBP and NP literature, in particular. The literature mapping revealed that economic evidence was unavailable for various commonly used LBP and NP treatments (e.g., injections, traction, and discography). Even if economic evidence was available, many treatments were only evaluated in a single study or studies for the same intervention were highly heterogeneous in terms of their patient population, control condition, follow-up duration, setting, and/or economic perspective. Up until now, this has prevented economi...
Source: Best Practice and Research Clinical Rheumatology - Category: Rheumatology Source Type: research