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Economic Evaluation of Obesity Prevention in Early Childhood: Methods, Limitations and Recommendations

Despite methodological advances in the field of economic evaluations of interventions, economic evaluations of obesity prevention programmes in early childhood are seldom conducted. The aim of the present study was to explore existing methods and applications of economic evaluations, examining their...

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Autores principales: Döring, Nora, Mayer, Susanne, Rasmussen, Finn, Sonntag, Diana
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5036744/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27649218
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13090911
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author Döring, Nora
Mayer, Susanne
Rasmussen, Finn
Sonntag, Diana
author_facet Döring, Nora
Mayer, Susanne
Rasmussen, Finn
Sonntag, Diana
author_sort Döring, Nora
collection PubMed
description Despite methodological advances in the field of economic evaluations of interventions, economic evaluations of obesity prevention programmes in early childhood are seldom conducted. The aim of the present study was to explore existing methods and applications of economic evaluations, examining their limitations and making recommendations for future cost-effectiveness assessments. A systematic literature search was conducted using PubMed, Cochrane Library, the British National Health Service Economic Evaluation Databases and EconLit. Eligible studies included trial-based or simulation-based cost-effectiveness analyses of obesity prevention programmes targeting preschool children and/or their parents. The quality of included studies was assessed. Of the six studies included, five were intervention studies and one was based on a simulation approach conducted on secondary data. We identified three main conceptual and methodological limitations of their economic evaluations: Insufficient conceptual approach considering the complexity of childhood obesity, inadequate measurement of effects of interventions, and lack of valid instruments to measure child-related quality of life and costs. Despite the need for economic evaluations of obesity prevention programmes in early childhood, only a few studies of varying quality have been conducted. Moreover, due to methodological and conceptual weaknesses, they offer only limited information for policy makers and intervention providers. We elaborate reasons for the limitations of these studies and offer guidance for designing better economic evaluations of early obesity prevention.
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spelling pubmed-50367442016-09-29 Economic Evaluation of Obesity Prevention in Early Childhood: Methods, Limitations and Recommendations Döring, Nora Mayer, Susanne Rasmussen, Finn Sonntag, Diana Int J Environ Res Public Health Review Despite methodological advances in the field of economic evaluations of interventions, economic evaluations of obesity prevention programmes in early childhood are seldom conducted. The aim of the present study was to explore existing methods and applications of economic evaluations, examining their limitations and making recommendations for future cost-effectiveness assessments. A systematic literature search was conducted using PubMed, Cochrane Library, the British National Health Service Economic Evaluation Databases and EconLit. Eligible studies included trial-based or simulation-based cost-effectiveness analyses of obesity prevention programmes targeting preschool children and/or their parents. The quality of included studies was assessed. Of the six studies included, five were intervention studies and one was based on a simulation approach conducted on secondary data. We identified three main conceptual and methodological limitations of their economic evaluations: Insufficient conceptual approach considering the complexity of childhood obesity, inadequate measurement of effects of interventions, and lack of valid instruments to measure child-related quality of life and costs. Despite the need for economic evaluations of obesity prevention programmes in early childhood, only a few studies of varying quality have been conducted. Moreover, due to methodological and conceptual weaknesses, they offer only limited information for policy makers and intervention providers. We elaborate reasons for the limitations of these studies and offer guidance for designing better economic evaluations of early obesity prevention. MDPI 2016-09-13 2016-09 /pmc/articles/PMC5036744/ /pubmed/27649218 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13090911 Text en © 2016 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Döring, Nora
Mayer, Susanne
Rasmussen, Finn
Sonntag, Diana
Economic Evaluation of Obesity Prevention in Early Childhood: Methods, Limitations and Recommendations
title Economic Evaluation of Obesity Prevention in Early Childhood: Methods, Limitations and Recommendations
title_full Economic Evaluation of Obesity Prevention in Early Childhood: Methods, Limitations and Recommendations
title_fullStr Economic Evaluation of Obesity Prevention in Early Childhood: Methods, Limitations and Recommendations
title_full_unstemmed Economic Evaluation of Obesity Prevention in Early Childhood: Methods, Limitations and Recommendations
title_short Economic Evaluation of Obesity Prevention in Early Childhood: Methods, Limitations and Recommendations
title_sort economic evaluation of obesity prevention in early childhood: methods, limitations and recommendations
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5036744/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27649218
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13090911
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