Standardization of Hypnotic Agents for Prevention of Falls: A Pharmacoeconomic Study

In this study, the standardization of insomnia treatment was evaluated by pharmacoeconomics. The costs of the hypnotic agents was considered, as was the cost of examination/treatment following falls. Effectiveness was evaluated as the incidence of falls within 24 hours of taking hypnotic agents. This analysis took the public healthcare payer's perspective. Propensity score matching based on patient background, showed that, per hospitalization the medicine costs of the recommended group increased by 1,020 yen, however, the examination/treatment costs following falls decreased by 487 yen when compared with the non-recommended group. Overall, the recommended group incurred costs of 533 yen more per hospitalization for patients prescribed hypnotic agents compared to the non-recommended group, but the incidence of falls for the recommended group was significantly lower than that in the non-recommended group (1.9% vs. 6.3%; p<0.01). These results suggest that in order to prevent the incidence of falls by 1 case, it is necessary to increase costs by 12,086 yen which is the subthreshold cost for switching to the recommended medicine as standardization. The selection of recommended medicines may be a cost-effectiveness option compared with non-recommended medicines.PMID:34193657 | DOI:10.1248/yakushi.21-00020
Source: Yakugaku Zasshi : Journal of the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Source Type: research