Cost-utility of treatment of bulimia nervosa

✍ Scribed by Pohjolainen, Veera ;Räsänen, Pirjo ;Roine, Risto P. ;Sintonen, Harri ;Wahlbeck, Kristian ;Karlsson, Hasse

• Publisher: Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 158 KB
• Volume: 43
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0276-3478
• DOI: 10.1002/eat.20754

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Objective:

The costs of treating eating disorders are high. Our objective was to perform a cost‐utility analysis of treatment of bulimia nervosa.

Method:

72 patients entering treatment of bulimia nervosa (ICD‐10 diagnosis) completed the 15D health‐related quality of life (HRQoL) questionnaire and the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) before and 6 months after the start of treatment. Quality‐adjusted life years (QALYs) gained were calculated and cost‐utility was assessed within the time horizon of 10 years.

Results:

Baseline HRQoL was severely impaired in the patients. As a consequence of treatment, mean HRQoL improved clinically and statistically significantly. The cost per QALY gained varied from €1,455 to €16,481 (from €4,428 to €19,663 discounted at 5%) depending on the assumptions used in the analysis.

Discussion:

HRQoL of bulimia nervosa patients is severely impaired, but treatment has a clear positive effect on HRQoL. The cost per QALY gained is comparable to many other treatments. © 2009 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Int J Eat Disord 2010;)