- Title
- Cost analysis of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring in initiating antihypertensive drug treatment in Australian general practice
- Creator
- Ewald, Ben; Pekarsky, Brita
- Relation
- Medical Journal of Australia Vol. 176, Issue 12, p. 580-583
- Relation
- http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/176_12_170602/contents_170602.html
- Publisher
- Australasian Medical Publishing Company
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2002
- Description
- Objective: To compare the cost of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) with the putative savings made through treatment avoided by identification and non-treatment of those with "white coat" hypertension. Design: A cost analysis based on a model of four alternative strategies (no ABPM, yearly, two-yearly, or three-yearly monitoring) over a seven-year period applied to a case series from Australian general practice. Participants: 62 patients newly diagnosed by their GPs as having hypertension and requiring drug treatment. Main outcome measures: The proportion of patients shown to not need treatment. The discounted costs to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, Medical Benefits Scheme and patients. Results: 16 of 62 patients (26%; 95% CI, 15%–37%) were normotensive on ABPM and did not require treatment. All monitoring strategies are more expensive in the first year, but the initial costs are offset by year 3 and the monitoring strategies are cost saving thereafter. Sensitivity analysis shows that this result holds across a range of costs of pharmacotherapy and proportion of patients with white coat hypertension. Conclusion: The additional costs of 24-hour ABPM in the first year are offset by savings associated with patients with white coat hypertension who would otherwise have been treated.
- Subject
- costs; Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme; Medical Benefits Scheme; ambulatory blood pressure monitoring
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/26484
- Identifier
- uon:903
- Identifier
- ISSN:0025-729X
- Language
- eng
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