| Community falls prevention for people who call an emergency ambulance after a fall: an economic evaluation alongside a randomised controlled trial |
| Sach TH, Logan PA, Coupland CA, Gladman JR, Sahota O, Stoner-Hobbs V, Robertson K, Tomlinson V, Ward M, Avery AJ. Age Ageing 2012; ePub(ePub): ePub. |
| Affiliation: Health Economics Group, Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK. |
| DOI: 10.1093/ageing/afs071 |
| PMID: 22695789 |
| (Copyright © 2012, Oxford University Press) |
| OBJECTIVE: we estimated the cost-effectiveness of a community falls prevention service compared with usual care from a National Health Service and personal social services perspective over the 12 month trial period. DESIGN: a cost-effectiveness and cost utility analysis alongside a randomised controlled trial SETTING: community.Participants: people over 60 years of age living at home or in residential care who had fallen and called an emergency ambulance but were not taken to hospital.Interventions: referral to community fall prevention services or usual health and social care. MEASUREMENTS: incremental cost per fall prevented and incremental cost per Quality-Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) RESULTS: a total of 157 participants (82 interventions and 75 controls) were used to perform the economic evaluation. The mean difference in NHS and personal social service costs between the groups was £-1,551 per patient over 1 year (95% CI: £-5,932 to £2,829) comparing the intervention and control groups. The intervention patients experienced on average 5.34 fewer falls over 12 months (95% CI: -7.06 to -3.62). The mean difference in QALYs was 0.070 (95% CI: -0.010 to 0.150) in favour of the intervention group. CONCLUSION: the community falls prevention service was estimated to be cost-effective in this high-risk group. Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN67535605. (controlled-trials.com). Language: Eng |