Background
Methods
Setting and patients
Gargling (n = 122) | Control (n = 130) | |
---|---|---|
Baseline characteristics | ||
Gender (male/female) | 39/83 | 43/87 |
Age (mean) | 34.7 | 36.2 |
Anti-influenza vaccination (%) | 14.3 | 19.2 |
Frequency of URTIs in preceding year | 14/71/36 | 16/78/36 |
(0/1–2/> = 3 times)* | ||
Outcomes of the trial | ||
Infected cases (%)** | 30.1 | 40.8 |
Incidence rate per 60 person-days | 0.34 | 0.52 |
Duration of illness (days) *** | 88 | 156 |
Costs of care
Effectiveness
Analysis
Sensitivity analysis
Results
Variable | Value |
---|---|
Cost per day | |
Gargling (once) | $0.4 |
Visiting physicians (once)* | $47.9 |
Medicine (per day) | $2.0 |
Lost productivity due to severe URI (per day) | $97.7 |
Utility
| |
Moderate URI | 0.63 |
Severe URI | 0.24 |
Estimated costs and effectiveness after 60 days (Table 3)
Cost($) | Incremental cost (95%CI)** | Effectiveness (QALD) | Incremental effectiveness (95%CI) | ICER($/QALY) (95%CI)** | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gargling | |||||
Cost of gargling | 80.4 | 62.6 | |||
Cost of URTI | 24.9 | -25.5 | |||
Total
|
105.3
|
37.1
(7.4–65.4)
|
59.52
|
0.43
(0.07–0.80)
|
31,800
(1,877–248,095)
|
Control
| |||||
Cost of gargling | 17.8 | ||||
Cost of URTI | 50.4 | ||||
Total
|
68.2
|
59.10
|
Cost-effectiveness analysis (Table 3)
Sensitivity analyses (Table 4)
Estimated costs and utilities | ICER ($/QALY)* | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
-50% | Baseline | +50% | -50% | Baseline | +50% | |
Costs ($)
| ||||||
Gargling (one time) | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 5,000 | 31,800 | 58,600 |
Physician consultation because of URTI | 8.6 | 17.2 | 25.9 | 33,900 | 31,800 | 29,600 |
Medication to treat URTI | 0.6 | 1.2 | 1.8 | 31,900 | 31,800 | 31,700 |
Lost productivity due to severe URTI | 48.9 | 97.7 | 146.6 | 41,400 | 31,800 | 22,100 |
Utility
| ||||||
Utility in moderate influenza | 0.32 | 0.63 | 0.95 | 21,000 | 31,800 | 64,800 |
Utility in severe influenza | 0.12 | 0.24 | 0.36 | 29,900 | 31,800 | 33,900 |