A summary of work undertaken to date and plans for the future
1. Background
Chlamydia is a sexually transmitted infection (STI) caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis. It is the commonest STI of bacterial origin, globally and in the United Kingdom (UK) (World Health Organisation, 2008). In 2014, Chlamydia was the most commonly diagnosed STI in the UK, with 47% of diagnoses, and the prevalence is 3 to 6 percent amongst sexually active individuals aged 15 to 25 years (Public Health England, 2015). In 2014, approximately 210,000 people in England tested positive for Chlamydia; 67% of them were less than 25 years old (Public …show more content…
However little research has been done on the conceptualization of the health states and the derivation of the HSUVs used to generate QALYs and hence inform model parameters.
Aims and Objectives
In order to ensure that decision making is optimal, robust estimates of the QALYs gained by the prevention and treatment of Chlamydia are needed. This requires appropriate information on the HSUVs. The objectives of this thesis are:
1. To develop approaches for the measurement and valuation of the outcomes associated with Chlamydia and
2. To pilot these approaches.
This will be achieved by:
i) Conducting reviews of the literature on the challenges associated with health state valuation of Chlamydia infection and its sequelae, focusing on:
• The methodology used for health state valuation and how previous studies have valued temporary health states (THS) for diseases and interventions;
• The issue of time preference in health state valuation and how previous studies have handled it; ii) Developing approaches for measuring the outcomes associated with Chlamydia based on the result of the review; iii) Piloting the approach/approaches on a representative …show more content…
This was followed by a discussion on the types of health states and the techniques used for their valuation. Finally the methods which are used for the valuation of temporary health states were briefly described, and conclusions were drawn about the most appropriate approach in this context.
The pragmatic review of the literature on health state valuation led to the following findings:
• Various methods have been proposed for valuing temporary health states (THS) but there is no ‘gold standard’ and so, the choice of method will depend on many factors such as feasibility, cost and methodological issues;
• Most of the literature on THS valuation with adapted methods was published before 1999, with no recent studies further examining the techniques. This may reflect either issuing of NICE guidance or a conformity to common practice;
• There is no clear definition of a THS, with studies using examples relating to different health conditions and durations;
• There is no agreement on whose values should be elicited for THS, whether the values of the patients or that of the