Systematic review and cost-effectiveness of bosentan and sildenafil as
therapeutic drugs for pediatric pulmonary arterial hypertension
Abstract
Background:Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a rare disease in
children, with significant mortality. Because of the limited research on
pediatric PAH, firstly systematic review of related drugs is
conducted,and then economic evaluation of PAH drug treatment programs
is conducted, which to provide a reference for the choice of more
cost-effective treatment options. Methods: The search includes
electronic databases such as Pubmed, ScienceDirect, Embase. Through
inclusion and exclusion criteria, screen high-quality randomized
controlled trials. We used TreeAge Pro 2011 software to construct the
markov model, that to simulate the total medical cost and
quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), and to calculate the incremental
cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER). Sensitivity analysis of transfer
probability, utility and cost was carried out. Results: Incorporate two
studies that meet the criteria, one compared the therapeutic effects of
bosentan and placebo on pediatric PAH, the other compared therapeutic
effects of sildenafil and placebo on pediatric PAH, both articles were
of good quality. Compared with the sildenafil group (3.38QALYs and
$161120.14),the QALY of the bosentan treatment group (3.33QALYs and
$257411.29) was reduced by 0.05,and the cost increased by
$96291.15.The estimated improvement to quality of life and reduced
costs result in an estimate of economic dominance for sildenafil over
bosentan. This dominant result persisted probabilistic analyses.
Conclusions: Based on this model,a more cost-effective treatment drug
for PAH in children is sildenafil.