ObjectiveTo analyze the research status and hot spots of health technology assessment (HTA). MethodsDatabases including China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and PubMed were searched to collect published studies on HTA. The software of BICOMS-2 and VOSviewer 1.6.10 was used to draw the network diagram and to conduct cluster analysis of keywords. ResultsA total of 1170 studies in Chinese and 8584 studies in English were included. The number of HTA-related publications increased annually, among which countries with the most publications were the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Fudan University had the largest number of studies published in Chinese and York University had the largest number of studies published in English. The research topics mainly focused on hospital HTA, HTA decision transformation research, pharmacoeconomic evaluation, etc. The most frequent diseases were cancer and depression. Emerging keywords were real-word evidence, randomized controlled trials, cost-benefit analysis, etc. ConclusionHTA-related studies increase annually. Many HTA-related studies are performed in developed countries, such as the United States and the United Kingdom. The relevant research topics involve hospital HTA, HTA decision-making transformation research, and pharmacoeconomic evaluation. Current research focus is on the evaluation of health economics in the field of cancer based on the evidence of real-world research and randomized controlled trials.
Objective To investigate the health technology assessment reports, analyze publication characteristics and report quality, and explore hot topics in health technology assessment. Methods Web of Science and CNKI databases were searched to collect complete health technology assessment reports from inception to January 2023. SPSS 26.0 software was used to analyze the publication journals, countries, number of authors, assessment types and assessment contents of the assessment reports. The report quality was assessed based on International Network of Agencies for Health Technology Assessment (INAHTA) report criteria (2007 edition). VOSviewer 1.6.11 was used to analyze keywords clustering. Results A total of 216 papers were included, with 158 published by Chinese authors, and a rapid growth trend in the number of reports over past four years. The rate of reports on health technology social adaptability assessment was only 17.13%. Among the Chinese reports, 25 were general health technology assessments, 35 were rapid assessments, and 3 were mini assessments. Among the English reports, 4 were rapid assessments, and 54 were regular healthcare technology assessments. For the 14 items in the INAHTA reporting criteria, the reporting rates were high for the brief summary (98.61%), problem description (94.91%), and results discussion entries (97.69%). However, the reporting rates were low for criteria such as personnel responsibilities, conflict of interest statements, and peer review statements, at 31.94%, 19.44%, and 3.24% respectively. English literature generally exhibited higher report quality. Conclusion In recent years, the volume of health technology assessment reports in China has been increasing, with developments in assessment types and application fields. However, there are also problems with standardization of reporting.
Objective To systematically review published methodological guidelines for health technology assessment (HTA) at home and abroad. Methods Common electronic databases, guideline databases, international networks of HTA agencies/organizations, representative national HTA networks and official websites of governmental health departments were extensively searched and screened to identify guidelines for conducting or reporting HTA from inception to April 24, 2023. Basic information on guidelines, HTA processes, assessment indicators, reporting checklists and other information was extracted, analyzed and described using a systematic review methodology. Results A total of 41 guidelines were included in this study, published from January 2002 to January 2023; the publishing institutions involved 23 countries/international organizations, and 6 languages; the assessments were mainly for all health technologies (n=23), pharmaceuticals (n=4), diagnostic/testing technologies (n=4), non-pharmaceutical health technologies (n=3), medical devices/equipment (n=3), hospital health technologies (n=2), medical and surgical interventions (n=1), and screening technologies (n=1); the assessment perspectives were mainly health system perspectives (n=16), societal perspectives (n=12), and hospital perspectives (n=3), while the rest did not provide information on the perspectives; 28 guidelines described the detailed HTA assessment process, involving 11 steps; there were 39 guidelines described the assessment domains and related assessment indicators in detail, ranging from 2 to 9 assessment domains and involving 10 first-level assessment indicators; a checklist for HTA reports listed in 10 guidelines, involving 18 report entries; 17 guidelines reported conflicts of interest, mostly no conflicts of interest (n=10), and 3 of the remaining 7 guidelines did not indicate a specific conflict of interest, while 4 guidelines in which possible sources of conflict of interest were indicated. Conclusion The development of HTA has formed a relatively perfect assessment system, but there is a need to unify the criteria for classification of health technologies and reporting checklist, improve the specificity indicators for different types of health technologies, and clarify the assessment perspectives. Combined with the current situation of HTA development in China, contextualized guidelines for HTA implementation and reporting should be formulated to provide scientific information and methodological basis for decision-making on rational allocation of health resources.
ObjectiveTo utilize a rapid health technology assessment to evaluate the efficacy, safety and cost-effectiveness of the MitraClip device for patients with severe mitral regurgitation (MR). MethodsPubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, CNKI, WanFang Data, CBM and the CRD databases were electronically searched to collect clinical evidence and economic evaluations on the efficacy, safety and cost-effectiveness of the MitraClip device for patients with severe MR from inception to May 2022. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies; then, descriptive analyses and data summaries were performed. ResultsA total of 33 studies, involving 4 HTA reports, 3 RCTs, 16 systematic reviews or meta-analyses, and 10 economic evaluations were included. In the evidence comparing MitraClip and surgery, most of the literature showed that the MitraClip group had higher postoperative residual MR, fewer blood transfusion events, and fewer hospital days. We found no significant treatment effects on 30-day adverse events and mortality, and the 1-year and above survival rate. In the evidence of MitraClip versus medical therapy alone, all included studies showed that MitraClip benefited mid-term and long-term survival and reduced the incidence of subsequent cardiac hospitalizations. Economic evaluations showed that the clinical benefits were cost-effective in the setting of their health service systems. ConclusionThe available high-grade clinical evidence shows that MitraClip is effective and safe to some extent, and has cost-effectiveness compared with traditional treatment in other countries. However, the real-world effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the MitraClip need to be tested in the Chinese population and health-care setting.
Health insurance system has been proved to be an effective way to promote the quality of health service in many countries. However, how to control health expenditure under health insurance system remains a problem to be resolved. Some developed countries like UK, Canada and Sweden linked their health technology assessment results with decision making and health insurance management, and made prominent achievements in both expenditure control and quality improvement. China is carrying out its health system reform and running a new health insurance project. Using the experiences of other countries is undoubtedly of great importance in developing and managing our health insurance system.
ObjectiveTo investigate the construction strategy of a knowledge base for health technology assessment (HTA) indicators based on a multi-granularity knowledge representation model, in order to meet the users' diverse demands for HTA knowledge services. MethodsFirstly, we constructed a multi-granularity HTA indicator knowledge representation model based on systematically analyzing the content and structure of the HTA indicator system in literature. Secondly, we extracted multi-granularity HTA indicator knowledge from literature and conduct subject indexing in a human-computer collaborative way. Finally, based on the HTA knowledge service requirements, a prototype of the HTA indicator knowledge base-HTA Indicators was designed and developed. ResultsA multi-granularity HTA indicator knowledge representation model was constructed, covering 5 core knowledge units (indicator systems, indicator items, formulas, measurement variables, and subjects), 20 types of attributes, and 12 types of relationships. This model represented the intrinsic characteristics and connections between multi-granularity indicator knowledge units. Knowledge extraction and subject indexing of multi-grain HTA indicators were conducted based on 227 HTA indicator documents, forming instance data. Finally, a prototype of the HTA indicator knowledge base, named HTA Indicators, was developed. HTA Indicators provides services such as multi-granularity HTA indicator knowledge retrieval, navigation, and linking. ConclusionThe construction strategy of the HTA indicator knowledge base based on the multi-granularity knowledge representation model is feasible. The indicator knowledge base can achieve multi-dimensional semantic organization of indicator knowledge, provide multi-level and multi-dimensional indicator knowledge retrieval and discovery services, and meet the users' demand for precise HTA knowledge. In the future, we will explore the use of cutting-edge technologies such as large language models to achieve the automated construction of large-scale HTA knowledge, thereby enhancing the efficiency and intelligence level of knowledge base construction.
Objective To investigate present status of health care in peri-brain-death and analyze its effectiveness and health economic characteristics. Method Retrospective analysis of case series was conducted and a total of 940 patients from surgical intensive care unit (SICU) were reviewed on treatment and part of direct medical expenditure. The patients admitted from Jun. 1999 to Dec. 2000 and Nov. 2001 to Jun. 2002 were included in this study. Data were processed by SPSS 10.0. Results Patients were included if they had two of the three symptoms for at least one hour: deep coma, pupillar light reflex disappear, and no autonomic respiratory. Ultimately 115 patients were included, with a total cost of ￥2 515.9 per day for each case, whereas mortality was 99.10%. Mortality increased with the state of peri-brain-death prolonged. Eighty percent of patients included were dead within 72 hours after admission. Conclusions Attempts to resuscitate patients of peri-brain-death have been the most widely applied in China, however, it resulted in great unnecessary consumption of health resources. It is of great importance to promote legislation of brain death in China.
Objectives To evaluate the effectiveness, safety, applicability and economy of psychological assessment instruments including checklists, questionnaires and scales used in population exposed to earthquake. MethodsWe searched PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, CBM, CNKI, VIP, WanFang Data, and CiNii databases, as well as special websites about earthquake and disaster management from inception to July 30th, 2014 to collect studies related to psychological assessment of population exposed to earthquake in the first month after quake. A descriptive analysis was conducted to analyze the positive detection rate of psychological problems, rate of informed consent, and effective response rate in population exposed to earthquake, as well as the cost of psychological assessment. ResultsA total of 67 studies were included which involved 4 instruments including Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90), Self-Reporting Questionnaire-20 (SRQ-20), Chinese Psychosomatic Health Scale-134 (CPSHS-134) and 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). SCL-90 was the most commonly used scale. Forty-five studies reported the positive detection rate of psychological problems in population exposed to earthquake. The positive detection rates by using SCL-90, GHQ-12 and SRQ-20 were 8.6% to 77.8%, 65.6% to 89.9% and 65.6% to 89.9%, respectively. Informed consent was reported in 27 studies, and effective response rate was reported in 20 studies with the highest one 99.56% for CPSHS-134. No study reported the cost of psychological assessment. ConclusionSCL-90, RQ-20, CPSHS-134 and GHQ-12 are mainly used instruments for assessing psychological problems in population exposed to earthquake in the first month after quake. The reporting of important information related to effectiveness, safety, applicability and economy of psychological assessment instruments is insufficient and not standardized. A concise and authoritative psychological assessment instrument for population exposed to earthquake is warranted.
Hospital-based health technology assessment (HB-HTA) refers to the practice of health technology assessment for hospital management decision-making based on the actual situations in hospitals. It includes processes and methods of health technology assessment carried out in and for hospitals. Under the background of comprehensively promoting the reform of public hospitals in China, HB-HTA is undoubtedly an important scientific method to enhance the fine management of public hospitals and implement the policy of medical reform. This paper introduced the concept, the international and domestic development status, the characteristics of HB-HTA, and put forward the scheme of development of HB-HTA macroscopically, so as to promote the popularization and applications of HB-HTA in China.
ObjectiveTo investigate the health technologies on diabetes prevention and management used in rural China and the assessment results of these health technologies, and to provide references for the selection and using of health technologies on diabetes prevention and management in rural China. MethodsWe searched VIP, CNKI, CBM and WanFang Data to collect survey studies and assessment reports of health technologies on diabetes prevention and management in rural China. The search date was up to July 15th, 2014. Two reviewers independently screened literature, and then the qualitative analysis was performed for the included studies. ResultsA total of 15 studies were included. The results of qualitative analysis showed that:the targeted populations were patients and ordinary villagers who had received the service or treatment of diabetes health technology in rural, as well as the grassroots medical technical personnel and promotion staffs who had developed the health technologies. Diabetes health technology studies in rural mainly included medical personnel health technology related knowledge training. The contents of health technology assessment involved effectiveness, acceptability, economic characteristics, requirements and technical specific property. ConclusionThere was limited researches on the investigation and analysis of health technologies on diabetes prevention and management in rural China, and evaluation content remains insufficient.