Sprague Sheila, Jeray Kyle, Tanner Stephanie. Users’ guide to the orthopaedic literature – what is a cost-effectiveness analysis. Indian Journal of Orthopaedics. 2008;42(2):126. doi:10.4103/0019-5413.40247.
Abstract
As the cost of healthcare continue to rise, orthopaedic surgeons are being pressured to practice cost-effective healthcare. Consequently, economic evaluation of treatment options are being reported more commonly in medical and surgical literature. As new orthopaedic procedures and treatments may improve patient outcome and function over traditional treatment options, the effect of the potentially higher costs of new treatments should be formally evaluated. Unfortunately, the resources available for healthcare spending are typically limited. Therefore, cost-effectiveness analyses have become an important and useful tool in informing which procedure or treatment to implement into practice.
Cost-effectiveness analysis is a type of economic analysis that compares both the clinical outcomes and the costs of new treatment options to current treatment options or standards of care. For a clinician to be able to apply the results of a cost-effectiveness analysis to their practice, they must be able to critically review the available literature. Conducting an economic analysis is a challenging process, which has resulted in a number of published economic analyses that are of lower quality and may be fraught with bias. It is important that the reader of an economic analysis or cost-effectiveness analysis have the skills required to properly evaluate and critically appraise the methodology used before applying the recommendations to their practice.
Using the principles of evidence-based medicine and the questions outlined in the Journal of the American Medical Association’s Users’ Guide to the Medical Literature, this article attempts to illustrate how to critically appraise a cost-effectiveness analysis in the orthopaedic surgery literature.
Last Updated on September 28, 2026
🔗 Knowledge Graph & Clinical Correlates
OrthopaedicsOne Living Semantic Network🩺 Clinical Conditions & Indications
- Wigns There are three categories of diagnostic data collected during the physical examination (sign, symptom, and that in between)...
- Why have a privacy policy for my office Original Clinical Contribution: Authored for the OrthopaedicsOne General Orthopaedics Specialty Section. Preserved, digitized, and updated to modern evidence-based...
- Why have a practice website Original Clinical Contribution: Authored for the OrthopaedicsOne General Orthopaedics Specialty Section. Preserved, digitized, and updated to modern evidence-based...
- Who should undergo biopsy of a bone lesion Patient selection for a biopsy is important: It is intended to confirm the radiologic diagnosis in patients with...
💼 Practice Management & Professional Operations
- Winthrop M. Phelps History of Orthopaedics
- Willis Cohoon Campbell History of Orthopaedics
- William Waugh History of Orthopaedics
- William Ward Plummer History of Orthopaedics
- William Thomas Gordon Pugh History of Orthopaedics
- William Stewart Halsted History of Orthopaedics
- William Stevenson Baer History of Orthopaedics
- William Morant Baker History of Orthopaedics