How Cost–Effective Is the Treatment of Dyslipidemia in Patients With Diabetes but Without Cardiovascular Disease?
A response to Grover et al.
- Leonard E. Egede, MD
- Department of Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina
In the January 2001 issue of Diabetes Care, Grover et al. (1) reported on the cost-effectiveness of dyslipidemia treatment in patients with diabetes but without cardiovascular disease. Although the article was interesting and relevant, further review of the assumptions of the study’s Markov model raise several questions.
First, in the cost-effectiveness model, the choice of years of life saved (YOLS) rather than quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) is debatable. Diabetes is known to have a significant effect on morbidity, mortality, and quality of life. In addition, other aspects of …
