Cost-effectiveness of counselling as a treatment option for methamphetamine dependence
Introduction and aims: Illicit methamphetamine (MA) use is an important public health concern. There is a dearth of knowledge about effective and cost-effective treatments for methamphetamine (MA) dependence in Australia. This article evaluates the cost-effectiveness of counselling as a treatment o...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
Informa Healthcare
2015
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/56689 |
| _version_ | 1848759914667704320 |
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| author | Ciketic, S. Hayatbakhsh, R. McKetin, Rebecca Doran, C. Najman, J. |
| author_facet | Ciketic, S. Hayatbakhsh, R. McKetin, Rebecca Doran, C. Najman, J. |
| author_sort | Ciketic, S. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Introduction and aims: Illicit methamphetamine (MA) use is an important public health concern. There is a dearth of knowledge about effective and cost-effective treatments for methamphetamine (MA) dependence in Australia. This article evaluates the cost-effectiveness of counselling as a treatment option for illicit MA use compared with no treatment option. Design and methods: Data are from 501 individuals recruited into Methamphetamine Treatment Evaluation Study (MATES). The population of MA users from MATES is extrapolated to a total number of 1000 MA users in the intervention group (counselling treatment) and control group (non-treatment group). A decision analytic model is developed that examines the costs and health outcomes [measures as quality adjusted life years (QALYs) gained] for the treatment and comparison group over a 3-year period. A societal perspective is adopted and model inputs are subject to sensitivity and uncertainty analysis to test the robustness of results to parameter variability. Results are discounted by using 3% discount rate and expressed in 2011 Australian dollars. Results: The incremental cost-effectiveness analysis suggests that counselling is a dominant health care intervention, i.e. saves money and is more effective than a do nothing intervention. The incremental difference in costs is -AU$18.36 million (95% CI -AU$22.80 million to -AU$14.31 million) and the incremental difference in QALY is 107 (95% CI -640 to 820) with a probability of 78.64% of counselling being a dominant and cost-effective treatment within the acceptable incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of $63832 per QALY in the Australian society. The results of the sensitivity analysis show that the ICER is most sensitive to change in five major inputs: baseline utility, utility at 3 months, dealing crime costs, property crime costs and fraud crime costs. Discussion and Conclusions: The economic evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of counselling for MA dependence, as a first cost-effectiveness study to assess psychosocial treatment options for MA dependence, shows that greater investment in this cost-effective strategy will produce significant cost-savings and improve health outcomes as well as improve a lot of externality issues associated with drug use. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T10:07:27Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-56689 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T10:07:27Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | Informa Healthcare |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-566892018-01-05T08:03:19Z Cost-effectiveness of counselling as a treatment option for methamphetamine dependence Ciketic, S. Hayatbakhsh, R. McKetin, Rebecca Doran, C. Najman, J. Introduction and aims: Illicit methamphetamine (MA) use is an important public health concern. There is a dearth of knowledge about effective and cost-effective treatments for methamphetamine (MA) dependence in Australia. This article evaluates the cost-effectiveness of counselling as a treatment option for illicit MA use compared with no treatment option. Design and methods: Data are from 501 individuals recruited into Methamphetamine Treatment Evaluation Study (MATES). The population of MA users from MATES is extrapolated to a total number of 1000 MA users in the intervention group (counselling treatment) and control group (non-treatment group). A decision analytic model is developed that examines the costs and health outcomes [measures as quality adjusted life years (QALYs) gained] for the treatment and comparison group over a 3-year period. A societal perspective is adopted and model inputs are subject to sensitivity and uncertainty analysis to test the robustness of results to parameter variability. Results are discounted by using 3% discount rate and expressed in 2011 Australian dollars. Results: The incremental cost-effectiveness analysis suggests that counselling is a dominant health care intervention, i.e. saves money and is more effective than a do nothing intervention. The incremental difference in costs is -AU$18.36 million (95% CI -AU$22.80 million to -AU$14.31 million) and the incremental difference in QALY is 107 (95% CI -640 to 820) with a probability of 78.64% of counselling being a dominant and cost-effective treatment within the acceptable incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of $63832 per QALY in the Australian society. The results of the sensitivity analysis show that the ICER is most sensitive to change in five major inputs: baseline utility, utility at 3 months, dealing crime costs, property crime costs and fraud crime costs. Discussion and Conclusions: The economic evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of counselling for MA dependence, as a first cost-effectiveness study to assess psychosocial treatment options for MA dependence, shows that greater investment in this cost-effective strategy will produce significant cost-savings and improve health outcomes as well as improve a lot of externality issues associated with drug use. 2015 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/56689 10.3109/14659891.2014.900580 Informa Healthcare restricted |
| spellingShingle | Ciketic, S. Hayatbakhsh, R. McKetin, Rebecca Doran, C. Najman, J. Cost-effectiveness of counselling as a treatment option for methamphetamine dependence |
| title | Cost-effectiveness of counselling as a treatment option for methamphetamine dependence |
| title_full | Cost-effectiveness of counselling as a treatment option for methamphetamine dependence |
| title_fullStr | Cost-effectiveness of counselling as a treatment option for methamphetamine dependence |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cost-effectiveness of counselling as a treatment option for methamphetamine dependence |
| title_short | Cost-effectiveness of counselling as a treatment option for methamphetamine dependence |
| title_sort | cost-effectiveness of counselling as a treatment option for methamphetamine dependence |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/56689 |