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Table 7 Quality assessment of cost comparison studies also examining clinical outcomes

From: A systematic review comparing the costs of chiropractic care to other interventions for spine pain in the United States

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Question

Bronfort, 2000 [46]

Carey, 1995 [40]

Cherkin, 1998 [44]

Haas, 2005 [41]

Kominski, 2005 [45]

Sharma, 2009 [43]

Stano, 2002 [42]

Total

1

Is the study population clearly described?

yes

no

yes

yes

no

yes

yes

5

2

Are competing alternatives clearly described?

yes

no

yes

no

yes

no

no

3

3

Is a well-defined research question posed in answerable form?

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

no

6

4

Is the economic study design appropriate to the stated objective?

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

7

5

Is the chosen time horizon appropriate in order to include relevant costs and consequences?

no

no

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

5

6

Is the actual perspective chosen appropriate?

no

no

yes

no

yes

no

no

2

7

Are all important and relevant costs for each alternative identified?

no

yes

yes

no

yes

no

no

3

8

Are all costs measured appropriately in physical units?

no

yes

yes

no

yes

no

no

3

9

Are costs valued appropriately?

no

no

yes

no

no

no

no

1

10

Are all important and relevant outcomes for each alternative identified?

yes

no

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

6

11

Are all outcomes measured appropriately?

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

7

12

Are outcomes valued appropriately?

no

no

no

no

no

no

no

0

13

Is an incremental analysis of costs and outcomes of alternatives performed?

no

no

no

yes

no

no

yes

2

14

Are all future costs and outcomes discounted appropriately?a

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

15

Are all important variables, whose values are uncertain, appropriately subjected to sensitivity analysis?

no

no

no

no

no

yes

no

1

16

Do the conclusions follow from the data reported?

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

7

17

Does the study discuss the generalizability of the results to other settings and patient/client groups?

yes

no

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

6

18

Does the article indicate that there is no potential conflict of interest of study researcher(s) and funder(s)?

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

7

19

Are ethical and distributional issues discussed appropriately?

no

no

no

no

no

no

no

0

 

Total

9

7

14

10

12

10

9

 
  1. anot applicable (i.e. studies did not project future costs or health outcomes)
  2. N/A not applicable