Peter Neumann (2023) and David Kim (2023) answer this question in their JAMA Research letter published today. The researchers used data from 1990-2021 obtained from the Tufts Medical Center CEA Registry. Below are graphs that summarize the results.
We see a gradual increase in the use of explicit cost-effectiveness thresholds, which has gone from 45% to 91%. Second, cost-effectiveness levels have increased over the years. In the 1990s only 43.6% (of studies) used the $50,000/QALY as a threshold for CEA. Now, only 13.8% (of studies) use this threshold.
The authors note:
- The cancer-related CEAs referred to higher thresholds than the non-cancer CEAs. This may indicate that interventions for diseases with higher mortality and morbidity merit higher thresholds.
- Authors of industry funded analyses tend to use higher thresholds.
Read the entire paper Here is a link to the article.
