Open AccessEconomic analysis of dyspepsia
Author(s) -
Am Sonnenberg
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
european journal of gastroenterology and hepatology
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.881
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1473-5687
pISSN - 0954-691X
DOI - 10.1097/00042737-199704000-00001
Subject(s) - medicine , medical diagnosis , intensive care medicine , diagnostic test , economic analysis , variety (cybernetics) , regimen , medical practice , surgery , pediatrics , pathology , artificial intelligence , agricultural economics , computer science , economics
A variety of organic and non-organic diseases can present with symptoms of dyspepsia or upper abdominal pain, and a large diagnostic and therapeutic armamentarium is available to manage symptoms of dyspepsia. How extensively should a diagnostic search be conducted; and where does the best path run through the maze of potential combinations of tests and therapies? Physicians have hoped that economic and medical decision analyses would help them to find the most cost-effective and most efficacious means to deal with dyspepsia. Because of the large variety of potential diagnoses, diagnostic procedures and therapeutic means, however, it is very doubtful that a single most effective or least expensive strategy can ever be developed to apply to every patient with dyspepsia. Following the lines of common medical sense is probably more cost-effective than observing a rigid regimen derived from an economical analysis.