Copyright © 1996 by the European Society of Cardiology.
© 1996 The European Society of Cardiology
Cost-effectiveness of cholesterol lowering
Results from the Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study (4S)
*Stockholm School of Economics, Stockholm Sweden
Section of Cardiology, University of Oslo Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway
Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences Linköping, Sweden
Cardiology Section, Medical Department, Aker Hospital Oslo, Norway
||The Nordic School of Public Health, Göteborg Sweden
revised 8 May 1996; accepted 14 May 1996.
Correspondence: Professor Bengt Jönsson, Stockholm School of Economics, Sveavägen 65, Box 6501, S-113 83 Stockholm, Sweden
Abstract
An analysis of the cost-effectiveness of simvastatin was conducted, based on the Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study (4S). The total cost of hospitalization in the placebo group was 5·28 million Swedish kronor (SEK) (£5·l5 million), compared with SEK 36·0 million (£3·51 million) in the simvastatin group. This amounts to a 32% reduction, or a saving of SEK 16·8 million (£1·6 million) or SEK 7560 (£738) per patient.
The net cost per patient for the duration of the study (5·4 years) was SEK 13 540 (£1324). Simvastatin treatment saved an estimated 0·377 undiscounted life years (0·240 life years discounted at 5% per annum). The cost of simvastatin therapy per discounted life-year saved was therefore SEK 56 400 (£5502) Sensitivity analysis, examining the effect of different life expectancies, costs of initiation and monitoring of simvastatin therapy, and discount rates, showed the results to be stable.
CONCLUSION: The cost per life-year saved of simvastatin in the treatment of post-myocardial infarction and angina patients, as determined from 4S data, is well within the range normally considered cost-effective.
Key Words: Cost-effectiveness • cholesterol lowering • simvastatin (4S)
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