Institute of Health and Society (IRSS), Université Catholique de Louvain (UClouvain), Brussels, Belgium.
Institute of Health and Society (IRSS), Université Catholique de Louvain (UClouvain), Brussels, Belgium; Institute of Economic and Social Research (IRES), Université Catholique de Louvain (UClouvain), Brussels, Belgium.
Value Health. 2023 Aug;26(8):1270-1281. doi: 10.1016/j.jval.2023.03.008. Epub 2023 Mar 24.
OBJECTIVES: Climate change and environmental factors have an impact on human health and the ecosystem. The healthcare sector is responsible for substantial environmental pollution. Most healthcare systems rely on economic evaluation to select efficient alternatives. Nevertheless, environmental spillovers of healthcare treatments are rarely considered whether it is from a cost or a health perspective. The objective of this article is to identify economic evaluations of healthcare products and guidelines that have included any environmental dimensions. METHODS: Electronic searches of 3 literature databases (PubMed, Scopus, and EMBASE) and official health agencies guidelines were conducted. Documents were considered eligible if they assessed the environmental spillovers within the economic evaluation of a healthcare product or provided any recommendations on the inclusion of environmental spillovers in the health technology assessment process. RESULTS: From the 3878 records identified, 62 documents were deemed eligible and 18 were published in 2021 and 2022. The environmental spillovers considered were carbon dioxide (CO) emissions, water or energy consumption, and waste disposal. The environmental spillovers were mainly assessed using the lifecycle assessment (LCA) approach while the economic analysis was mostly limited to costs. Only 9 documents, including the guidelines of 2 health agencies presented theoretical and practical ways to include environmental spillovers into the decision-making process. CONCLUSIONS: There is a clear lack of methods on whether environmental spillovers should be included in health economic evaluation and how this should be done. If healthcare systems want to reduce their environment footprint, the development of methodology which integrates environmental dimensions in health technology assessment will be key.
目的:气候变化和环境因素对人类健康和生态系统有影响。医疗保健部门对环境污染负有重大责任。大多数医疗保健系统依赖经济评估来选择有效的替代方案。然而,无论从成本还是健康角度来看,医疗保健治疗的环境溢出效应很少被考虑。本文的目的是确定纳入任何环境维度的医疗保健产品和指南的经济评估。
方法:对 3 个文献数据库(PubMed、Scopus 和 EMBASE)和官方卫生机构指南进行了电子搜索。如果文件评估了医疗保健产品经济评估中的环境溢出效应,或提供了关于将环境溢出效应纳入卫生技术评估过程的任何建议,则认为该文件符合条件。
结果:从 3878 条记录中,确定了 62 份符合条件的文件,其中 18 份发表于 2021 年和 2022 年。考虑的环境溢出效应包括二氧化碳 (CO) 排放、水或能源消耗和废物处理。环境溢出效应主要使用生命周期评估 (LCA) 方法进行评估,而经济分析主要限于成本。只有 9 份文件,包括 2 个卫生机构的指南,提出了将环境溢出效应纳入决策过程的理论和实践方法。
结论:对于是否应该将环境溢出效应纳入健康经济评估以及应该如何纳入,存在明确的方法缺失。如果医疗保健系统希望减少其环境足迹,那么开发将环境维度纳入卫生技术评估的方法将是关键。
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