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Methodological limitations of economic evaluations of antenatal screening
Author(s) -
Petrou Stavros
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
health economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.55
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1099-1050
pISSN - 1057-9230
DOI - 10.1002/hec.636
Subject(s) - conflation , economic evaluation , cost–benefit analysis , economics , public economics , economic cost , actuarial science , medicine , political science , microeconomics , philosophy , epistemology , law
A review of recent economic studies of antenatal screening reveals widespread violation of accepted economic evaluation methodology. In particular, the costs and benefits of antenatal screening are often misclassified and conflated, and the non‐resource effects of averted costs are often excluded from the evaluation process. The result is a widespread violation of the explicit and systematic approaches taken by economic analysts more generally, and conclusions that may be described as misleading. This letter calls for economic analysts to be consistent in their application of economic evaluation methodology to antenatal screening programmes. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.