ANZICS CTG Endorsed Study

ARISE Economic Evaluation

Economic evaluation of resuscitation in sepsis

Study Description

Resources in the healthcare system are scarce and there is a constant challenge to maximise health benefits to patients within the available resources. This is particularly relevant in the intensive care setting where there is an increasing demand for services coupled with newer and more expensive technologies. Economic evaluations enable the clinical and resource effects of healthcare interventions to be estimated, aiding decisions about which therapies to implement in an environment of heightened cost-consciousness and where there are competing demands for limited health care resources. The conduct of economic evaluations alongside clinical trials produces high quality evidence on comparative outcomes and costs of new therapies prior to their introduction. In the critical care setting, parallel studies with economic and clinical endpoints provide an accurate estimate of the cost-effectiveness of new therapies in this area before their widespread introduction. The aim of this study is to determine the cost-effectiveness and cost-utility of protocolised resuscitation compared to usual care in patients presenting to Emergency Departments with severe sepsis. The study is conducted alongside the ARISE RCT and will use an analytic timeframe of one year to compare the cost per life year gained and the cost per quality adjusted life year (QALY) gained from the alternative treatments. A representative subgroup of 200 patients (100 EGDT®, 100 standard care) from the ARISE-RCT form the group of patients who contribute both cost and quality of life (QoL) data for the economic evaluation.

Management Committee

Alisa Higgins (Chair and Project Manager), Rinaldo Bellomo, Jamie Cooper, Anthony Delaney, Anthony Harris, Belinda Howe, Alistair Nichol, Sandy Peake, and Tricia Williams

Administering Institution

ANZIC Research Centre, Monash University

Collaborators

Centre for Health Economics, Monash University

Sample Size

1540 patients

Funding

Intensive Care Foundation $100,000
Public Health PhD Scholarship $85,827

Reference

CTG08-007
CTN as per ARISE (ACTRN12608000053325 & NCT00975793)

Contact

Lisa Higgins (email)