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Cost and cost-effectiveness of the COMBINE study in alcohol-dependent patients

Zarkin GA, Bray JW, Aldridge A, Mitra D, Mills MJ, Couper DJ, Cisler RA, COMBINE Cost-Effectiveness Research Group

Archives of general psychiatry, 2008

Abstract

CONTEXT: The COMBINE (Combined Pharmacotherapies and Behavioral Intervention) clinical trial recently evaluated the efficacy of medications, behavioral therapies, and their combinations for the outpatient treatment of alcohol dependence. The costs and cost-effectiveness of these combinations are unknown and of interest to clinicians and policy makers.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the costs and cost-effectiveness of the COMBINE Study interventions after 16 weeks of treatment.

DESIGN: A prospective cost and cost-effectiveness study of a randomized controlled clinical trial.

SETTING: Eleven US clinical sites.

PARTICIPANTS: One thousand three hundred eighty-three patients having a diagnosis of primary alcohol dependence.

INTERVENTIONS: The study included 9 treatment groups; 4 groups received medical management for 16 weeks with naltrexone, 100 mg/d, acamprosate, 3 g/d, or both, and/or placebo; 4 groups received the same therapy as mentioned earlier with combined behavioral intervention; and 1 group received combined behavioral intervention only.

MAIN OUTCOMES MEASURES: Incremental cost per percentage point increase in percentage of days abstinent, incremental cost per patient of avoiding heavy drinking, and incremental cost per patient of achieving a good clinical outcome.

RESULTS: On the basis of the mean values of cost and effectiveness, 3 interventions are cost-effective options relative to the other interventions for all 3 outcomes: medical management (MM) with placebo ($409 per…

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Evidence Hub reads this as a randomized trial, done in people. Its evidence level is 2 of 5 (High · randomized trial). Randomized trials of a reasonable size are the strongest single-study design.

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