Guia metodológico para estimativas de custos para avaliações econômicas em saúde: doença pneumocócica e rotavirose em países da América Latina e Caribe

Abstract

The present study was conducted in two stages, being the first a theoretical review over different methodological approaches for conducting and analyzing cost-of-illness studies. From the data obtained in this stage, six steps were proposed in order to organize and guide cost of illness estimation within health economics evaluations. The second stage was comprised by a systematic review and critical appraisal of cost of illness studies for two particular diseases in Latin America and Caribbean region pneumococcal and rotavirus infections, selected due to their relevance for the public health and for policy-makers, markedly with respect to financing vaccination programs. This second stage aimed to apply and test the six proposed steps, as well as to describe the methods and data sources usually employed by latin american researchers. Based on the systematic review findings, it is possible to conclude that both methods and data sources for resource utilization and unit costs extensively varied among studies, leading to a significant variability in final costs estimations obtained. The diversity of study designs, data sources and results can be partially explained by the absence of methodological standardization but also by the lack of data about resource utilization and costs within the region, which frequently results in the need of combining data and techniques to reach the best possible estimation. The analysed studies can not be deemed comparable due to the significant differences identified in methods, data sources, economic perspective, etc. Thus, the findings of this study reinforce the need for transparency in the conduction of cost of illness studies and for local and regional initiatives to collect cost data in a constant and consistency way to inform the decision-making abouth resource allocation in health.