Adverse drug events in cost-effectiveness models for diabetes

A scoping review examines the overlooked role of adverse drug events in evaluating diabetes treatments

Adverse drug events (ADEs) are harmful, negative outcomes associated with drug therapies used in medical practice, arising from both preventable and non-preventable causes. Economic evaluation guidelines acknowledge the significance of including adverse drug events (ADEs) in analyses, yet in practice, the incorporation of ADEs in cost-effectiveness models seems to be unclear.

According to a survey commissioned by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, “only 54% of the decision models in health technology assessments included adverse effects, and of the models that included them, only 60% considered them in both clinical and cost parameters.” There was no clear relationship between the inclusion of negative effects in the model and factors such as therapeutic area, intervention type, or model type. If potential ADE’s are not included in cost-effective models, it can lead to unreliable and misleading results.

The prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) is on the rise, a condition defined by chronically elevated blood sugar levels. The World Health Organization states approximately 830 million people have the disease worldwide. The pharmacotherapy of DM includes hypoglycemics, which can cause ADEs such as nausea, genital infections, urinary tract infections, diarrhea, hypoglycemia, headaches, and weight gain.

A new scoping review aims to explore the role of adverse drug events (ADEs) caused by pharmacological interventions in cost-effectiveness models for diabetes mellitus, diabetic retinopathy, and diabetic macular edema – conditions chosen in this review to enable economic models for different conditions to be compared with different amounts of existing research.

To better understand the current practices of economic evaluation, it is necessary to look into if and how cost-effectiveness models incorporate ADE, with future research needed to investigate how the results are impacted by potential ADEs and identify the criteria and policies for practical inclusion of adverse drug events in economic evaluation.

Read full scoping review, Adverse drug events in cost-effectiveness models of pharmacological interventions for diabetes, diabetic retinopathy, and diabetic macular edema

Pesonen, Mari; Jylhä, Virpi; Kankaanpää, Eila

JBI Evidence Synthesis 22(11):p 2194-2266, November 2024. | DOI: 10.11124/JBIES-23-00511