ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews how certain studies can be undertaken and some of the difficulties that are encountered. To undertake an economic analysis, the benefits of competing healthcare interventions must be related to the resources utilised in their production. An economic evaluation provides a framework to compare the benefits and costs of alternative interventions to facilitate choice when resources are scarce. Although there remain a number of methodological problems, economic evaluation offers a useful framework that can facilitate the difficult choices that confront decision makers and ensure that resources are used in an efficient manner. Currently, the main approach to resolving issues of uncertainty is the use of sensitivity analysis. Sensitivity analysis is a crude but useful means of exploring how sensitive the results of an economic evaluation are across the range of data that may vary. It allows the robustness of results to be tested in light of variations in the values of key variables.
