Appalachian College of Pharmacy, Oakwood, VA 24631, USA.
Pharmacoeconomics. 2012 Oct 1;30(10):925-40. doi: 10.2165/11589450-000000000-00000.
Economic factors are a limiting factor toward the implementation of many health programmes and interventions. Economic evaluation has a great potential to contribute toward cost-effective healthcare delivery in South Africa. Little is known about the characteristics and quality of health economic (including pharmacoeconomic) research in South Africa.
This study assessed the state of health economic (including pharmacoeconomic) research in South Africa. PUBMED, MEDLINE, HealthSTAR, EconLit and PsycINFO databases were searched to identify health economic articles pertaining to South Africa published between 1 January 1977 and 30 April 2010. The searches used the following Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms and text words alone and in combination: 'costs', 'health' and 'South Africa'. Our study included only original economic studies/analyses that pertained to South Africa, addressed a health-related topic, and had a statement or word in the title, abstract or keywords that indicated that an economic (including cost) analysis had been conducted. The study only included complete peer-reviewed publications (e.g. abstracts were excluded) that were reported in the English language. Two reviewers independently scored each article in the final sample using the data collection form designed for the study.
In total, 108 studies investigating a wide variety of diseases were included in the study. These articles were published in 39 different journals mostly based outside of South Africa between 1977 and 2010. On average, each article was written by three authors. Most first authors had medical/clinical training and resided in South Africa at the time of publication of their study. Based on a 1-10 scale, with 10 indicating the highest quality, the mean quality score for all studies was 7.59 (SD 1.42) and half of the articles were of good quality (score 8-10) The quality of studies was related to the country in which the journal publishing the article was based (outside South Africa = higher); current residence of the primary author (outside South Africa = higher); method of economic analysis (economic evaluations higher than cost studies); type of data used (secondary higher than primary); primary training of the first author (health economics/pharmacoeconomics = higher); type of medical function (diagnosis = higher); study perspective (societal = higher); primary health intervention (pharmaceuticals = higher); study design (modelling = higher); number of authors (more = higher); and year of publication (more recent = higher) [p ≤ 0.05].
Half of the articles were of poor or fair quality. Measures are needed to promote the commissioning of more and better quality health economic and pharmacoeconomic studies in South Africa.
经济因素是许多卫生规划和干预措施实施的一个限制因素。经济评估对于在南非实现具有成本效益的医疗保健服务具有巨大的潜力。目前，人们对南非卫生经济（包括药物经济学）研究的特点和质量知之甚少。
本研究评估了南非卫生经济（包括药物经济学）研究的现状。在 1977 年 1 月 1 日至 2010 年 4 月 30 日期间，通过 PUBMED、MEDLINE、HealthSTAR、EconLit 和 PsycINFO 数据库检索与南非相关的卫生经济文献。检索使用了以下医学主题词（MeSH）术语和文本词，单独或组合使用：“costs”、“health”和“South Africa”。我们的研究仅包括与南非有关、涉及与健康有关的主题、并且在标题、摘要或关键词中有表明已进行经济（包括成本）分析的字样的原始经济研究/分析。该研究仅包括完整的同行评议出版物（例如，摘要被排除在外），并且以英文报告。两名评审员使用为研究设计的资料收集表，独立地对最终样本中的每一篇文章进行评分。
共有 108 项研究纳入了这项研究，这些研究涉及多种疾病。这些文章发表在 1977 年至 2010 年期间的 39 种不同的期刊上，这些期刊大多位于南非以外。平均而言，每篇文章有三位作者撰写。大多数第一作者具有医学/临床培训背景，并且在其研究发表时居住在南非。根据 1-10 的评分标准，其中 10 表示最高质量，所有研究的平均质量评分为 7.59（SD 1.42），有一半的文章质量良好（评分 8-10）。研究质量与发表文章的期刊所在国家有关（南非以外地区的期刊质量较高）；第一作者目前的居住地（南非以外地区的期刊质量较高）；经济分析方法（经济评估高于成本研究）；使用的数据类型（二级高于一级）；第一作者的主要培训（卫生经济学/药物经济学较高）；医疗功能类型（诊断较高）；研究视角（全人群较高）；初级卫生干预措施（药物较高）；研究设计（模型较高）；作者数量（较多较高）；以及发表年份（较近的较高）[p≤0.05]。
有一半的文章质量较差或一般。需要采取措施，促进在南非开展更多高质量的卫生经济和药物经济学研究。
