Review of cost-effectiveness analysis of medical treatment for myocardial infarction.

OBJECTIVES

Myocardial infarction (MI) is a leading cause of death in both the industrialized and developing countries globally. The economic evaluation of MI is undertaken to rationale the allocation of scarce healthcare resource. The objective is to review cost-effectiveness analysis of MI with medications.

METHODS

WE SEARCHED PUBMED USING THE KEY WORDS: "cost effectiveness analysis"and "myocardial infarction" After applying the selection criteria, eight articles were selected for the present study.

RESULTS

Out of eight articles, five had studied thrombolytic agents. All of these papers clearly explain the costs and benefits of different drugs for MI. ICER was assessed in six out of the eight articles to compare the costs and health effects between alternative medications. ICER was expressed in different effect units.

CONCLUSIONS

This study found that various medications including thrombolytic agents, ACEI and heparin are administered to treat MI in many countries. It is also found that five of eight studies focus on thrombolytic therapies. It implies that thrombolytic is generally very cost effective for MI to the whole society.