Both CEA and CUA require valid effectiveness data (from the
literature, from your own study, or from expert judgement
supplemented by sensitivity analysis), but in the case of CUA
only final outcome effectiveness data will suffice (for example,
lives saved, disability-days averted).
• Intermediate output data (for example, cases found, patients
appropriately treated) are unsuitable, because they cannot
directly be converted into an outcome measure like QALYs
gained which is required for CUA.
• As an aside, intermediate outcomes may well be suitable for
clinical decision analysis using a patient’s utilities for the
intermediate outcomes, but they are simply unsuitable for CUA
where the outcomes must be expressed in an outcome measure
like QALYs gained.
1. How does cost-utility analysis differ from cost-effectiveness
analysis? (cont’d)
6Cost-utility analysis provides a method to attach values to the outcomes
so the more important outcomes are weighted more heavily.