The effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of plant sterol or stanol-enriched functional foods as a primary prevention strategy for people with cardiovascular disease risk in England: a modeling study

Cost-effectiveness of group medical visits and microfinance interventions versus usual care to manage hypertension in Kenya: a secondary modelling analysis of data from the Bridging Income Generation with Group Integrated Care (BIGPIC) trial

BACKGROUND

The Bridging Income Generation with Group Integrated Care (BIGPIC) trial in rural Kenya showed that integrating usual care with group medical visits or microfinance interventions reduced systolic blood pressure and cardiovascular risk in participants. We aimed to estimate the incremental cost-effectiveness of three BIGPIC interventions for a modelled cohort and by sex, as well as the cost of implementing these interventions.

METHODS

For this analysis, we used data collected during the BIGPIC trial, a four-group, cluster-randomised trial conducted in the western Kenyan catchment area of the Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare. BIGPIC enrolled participants from 24 rural health facilities in rural western Kenya aged 35 years or older with either increased blood pressure or diabetes. Participants were assigned to receive either usual care, group medical visits, microfinance, or a combination of group medical visits and microfinance (GMV-MF). Our model estimated the incremental cost-effectiveness of the three BIGPIC interventions via seven health states (ie, a hypertensive state, five chronic cardiovascular-disease states, and a death state) by simulating transitions between health states for a hypothetical cohort of individuals with hypertension on the basis of QRISK3 scores. In every cycle, participants accrued costs and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) associated with their health state. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) were calculated for the entire modelled cohort and by sex by dividing the incremental cost by the incremental effectiveness of the next most expensive intervention. The main outcome of this analysis was ICERs for each intervention evaluated. This analysis is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02501746).

FINDINGS

Between Feb 6, 2017, and Dec 29, 2019, 2890 people were recruited to the BIGPIC trial. 2020 (69·9%) of 2890 participants were female and 870 (30·1%) were male. At baseline, mean QRISK3 score was 11·5 (95% CI 11·1-11·9) for the trial population, 11·9 (11·5-12·2) for male participants, and 11·3 (11·0-11·6) for female participants. For the population of Kenya, group medical visits were estimated to cost US$7 more per individual than usual care and result in 0·005 more DALYs averted (ICER $1455 per DALY averted). Microfinance was estimated to cost $19 more than group medical visits but was only estimated to avert 0·001 more DALYs. Relative to group medical visits, GMV-MF was estimated to cost $29 more and avert 0·009 more DALYs ($3235 per DALY averted). Relative to usual care, GMV-MF was estimated to cost $37 more and avert 0·014 more DALYs ($2601 per DALY averted). In the first year of the intervention, usual care was estimated to be the least expensive intervention to implement ($87 per participant; $10 238 per health-facility catchment area [HFCA]), then group medical visits ($99 per participant; $12 268 per HFCA), then microfinance ($120 per participant; $14 172 per HFCA), with GMV-MF estimated to be the most expensive intervention to implement ($139 per participant; $16 913 per HFCA).

INTERPRETATION

Group medical visits and GMV-MF were estimated to be cost-effective strategies to improve blood-pressure control in rural Kenya. However, which intervention to pursue depends on resource availability. Policy makers should consider these factors, in addition to sex differences in programme effectiveness, when selecting optimal implementation strategies.

FUNDING

US National Institutes of Health.

Cost-effectiveness of folic acid therapy for primary prevention of stroke in patients with hypertension

BACKGROUND

For hypertensive patients without a history of stroke or myocardial infarction (MI), the China Stroke Primary Prevention Trial (CSPPT) demonstrated that treatment with enalapril-folic acid reduced the risk of primary stroke compared with enalapril alone. Whether folic acid therapy is an affordable and beneficial treatment strategy for the primary prevention of stroke in hypertensive patients from the Chinese healthcare sector perspective has not been thoroughly explored.

METHODS

We performed a cost-effectiveness analysis alongside the CSPPT, which randomized 20,702 hypertensive patients. A patient-level microsimulation model based on the 4.5-year period of in-trial data was used to estimate costs, life years, quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) for enalapril-folic acid vs. enalapril over a lifetime horizon from the payer perspective.

RESULTS

During the in-trial follow-up period, patients receiving enalapril-folic acid gained an average of 0.016 QALYs related primarily to reductions in stroke, and the incremental cost was $706.03 (4553.92 RMB). Over a lifetime horizon, enalapril-folic acid treatment was projected to increase quality-adjusted life years by 0.06 QALYs or 0.03 life-year relative to enalapril alone at an incremental cost of $1633.84 (10,538.27 RMB), resulting in an ICER for enalapril-folic acid compared with enalapril alone of $26,066.13 (168,126.54 RMB) per QALY gained and $61,770.73 (398,421.21 RMB) per life-year gained, respectively. A probabilistic sensitivity analysis demonstrated that enalapril-folic acid compared with enalapril would be economically attractive in 74.5% of simulations at a threshold of $37,663 (242,9281 RMB) per QALY (3x current Chinese per capita GDP). Several high-risk subgroups had highly favorable ICERs < $12,554 (80,976 RMB) per QALY (1x GDP).

CONCLUSIONS

For both in-trial and over a lifetime, it appears that enalapril-folic acid is a clinically and economically attractive medication compared with enalapril alone. Adding folic acid to enalapril may be a cost-effective strategy for the prevention of primary stroke in hypertensive patients from the Chinese health system perspective.

Bioactivity of Cooked Standard and Enriched Whole Eggs from White Leghorn and Rhode Island Red in Exhibiting In-Vitro Antioxidant and ACE-Inhibitory Effects

Hen breed, diet enrichment, cooking methods, and gastrointestinal (GI) digestion modulates the bioaccessibility of the bioactive compounds in eggs, but their synergistic role in modulating bioactivity is still unclear. The present study evaluates the effect of hen breed, diet enrichment, and GI digestion on the cooked whole egg-derived peptides in-vitro antioxidant and antihypertensive activities. Standard and enriched whole eggs from White Leghorn (WLH) and Rhode Island Red (RIR) hens were boiled or fried and subjected to GI digestion. Antioxidant activity was measured through oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) and gastrointestinal epithelial cell-based assays, and the antihypertensive capacity by in-vitro Angiotensin-I Converting Enzyme (ACE) inhibition assay. WLH fried standard egg hydrolysate showed a high ORAC antioxidant activity but failed to show any significant antioxidant effect in the cell-based assay. No significant differences were observed in the antihypertensive activity, although enriched samples tended to have a higher ACE-inhibitory capacity. The peptide profile explained the antioxidant capacities based on antioxidant structural requirements from different peptide fractions, while previously reported antihypertensive peptides were found in all samples. The study validates the importance of physiologically relevant models and requires future studies to confirm mechanisms that yield bioactive compounds in whole egg hydrolysates.

Artificial Intelligence in Functional Food Ingredient Discovery and Characterisation: A Focus on Bioactive Plant and Food Peptides

Scientific research consistently demonstrates that diseases may be delayed, treated, or even prevented and, thereby, health may be maintained with health-promoting functional food ingredients (FFIs). Consumers are increasingly demanding sound information about food, nutrition, nutrients, and their associated health benefits. Consequently, a nutrition industry is being formed around natural foods and FFIs, the economic growth of which is increasingly driven by consumer decisions. Information technology, in particular artificial intelligence (AI), is primed to vastly expand the pool of characterised and annotated FFIs available to consumers, by systematically discovering and characterising natural, efficacious, and safe bioactive ingredients (bioactives) that address specific health needs. However, FFI-producing companies are lagging in adopting AI technology for their ingredient development pipelines for several reasons, resulting in a lack of efficient means for large-scale and high-throughput molecular and functional ingredient characterisation. The arrival of the AI-led technological revolution allows for the comprehensive characterisation and understanding of the universe of FFI molecules, enabling the mining of the food and natural product space in an unprecedented manner. In turn, this expansion of bioactives dramatically increases the repertoire of FFIs available to the consumer, ultimately resulting in bioactives being specifically developed to target unmet health needs.

The Healthcare Cost Burden in Adults with High Risk for Cardiovascular Disease

OBJECTIVE

We calculated the short- and long-term care resource use and costs in adults with high-risk conditions for cardiovascular disease (HRCVD) as defined by the Canadian Cardiovascular Society dyslipidemia guidelines.

METHODS

We linked Alberta health databases to identify patients aged ≥ 18 years with HRCVD between fiscal year (FY) 2012 and FY2016. The first HRCVD event was the index event. Patients were categorized into (1) primary prevention patients and (2) secondary prevention patients at the index event and were followed until death, they moved out of the province, or they were censored at March 2018. We calculated the resource use and costs for each of the 5 years after the index event.

RESULTS

The study included 459,739 HRCVD patients (13,947 [3%] were secondary prevention patients). The secondary prevention patients were older (median age 61 years vs. 55 years; p < 0.001), and there were fewer females in this group (30.4% vs. 51.3%; p < 0.001). The total healthcare costs in the first year decreased over time (FY2012: 1.16 billion Canadian dollars (CA$); FY2016: CA$1.05 billion; p < 0.001). An HRCVD patient incurred CA$12,068, CA$5626, and CA$4655 during the first, second, and fifth year, respectively (p for trend < 0.001). During the first year, healthcare costs per secondary prevention patient (CA$36,641) were triple that for a primary prevention patient (CA$11,299; p < 0.001), primarily due to higher hospitalization costs in secondary prevention patients (CA$26,896 vs. CA$6051; p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

The healthcare costs for HRCVD patients were substantial but decreased over time. The costs were highest in the year following the index event and decreased thereafter. Secondary prevention patients incurred higher costs than the primary prevention patients.

The position of functional foods and supplements with a serum LDL-C lowering effect in the spectrum ranging from universal to care-related CVD risk management

A wealth of data demonstrates a causal link between serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) concentrations and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Any decrease in serum LDL-C concentrations is associated with a decreased CVD risk, and this benefit is similar to a comparable LDL-C reduction after drug treatment and dietary intervention. Moreover, life-long reductions in serum LDL-C levels have a large impact on CVD risk and a long-term dietary enrichment with functional foods or supplements with a proven LDL lowering efficacy is therefore a feasible and efficient approach to decrease future CVD risk. Functional foods with an LDL-C lowering effect can improve health and/or a reduce the risk of disease. However, it has not been mentioned specifically whether this concerns mainly universal prevention or whether this can also be applied to the hierarchy towards care related prevention. Therefore, we here describe the effects of a list of interesting functional food ingredients with proven benefit in LDL-C lowering. In addition, we pay particular attention to the emerging evidence that the addition of these functional ingredients and supplements is advisable as universal and selective prevention in the general population. Moreover, functional ingredients and supplements are also helpful in care related prevention, i.e. in patients with elevated LDL-C concentrations who are statin-intolerant or are not able to achieve their LDL-C target levels. Furthermore, we will highlight practical aspects regarding the use of functional foods with an LDL-C lowering effect, such as the increasing importance of shared decision making of medical doctors and dieticians with patients to ensure proper empowerment and better adherence to dietary approaches. In addition, we will address costs issues related to the use of these functional foods, which might be a barrier in some populations.

Daily almond consumption in cardiovascular disease prevention via LDL-C change in the U.S. population: a cost-effectiveness analysis

Background

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the health claim that 1.5 oz (42.5 g) of nut intake may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Previous studies have focused on the cost-effectiveness of other foods or dietary factors on primary cardiovascular disease prevention, yet not in almond consumption. This study aimed to examine the cost-effectiveness of almond consumption in cardiovascular disease primary prevention.

Perspective & Setting

This study assessed the cost-effectiveness of consuming 42.5 g of almond from the U.S. healthcare sector perspective.

Methods

A decision model was developed for 42.5 g of almond per day versus no almond consumption and cardiovascular disease in the U.S. population. Parameters in the model were derived from the literature, which included the probabilities of increasing low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, developing acute myocardial infarction and stroke, treating acute myocardial infarction, dying from the disease and surgery, as well as the costs of the disease and procedures in the U.S. population, and the quality-adjusted life years. The cost of almonds was based on the current price in the U.S. market. Sensitivity analyses were conducted for different levels of willingness-to-pay, the probabilistic sensitivity analysis, ten-year risk prevention, different costs of procedures and almond prices, and patients with or without cardiovascular disease.

Results

The almond strategy had $363 lower cost and 0.02 higher quality-adjusted life years gain compared to the non-almond strategy in the base-case model. The annual net monetary benefit of almond consumption was $1421 higher per person than no almond consumption, when the willingness to pay threshold was set at $50,000 for annual health care expenditure. Almond was more cost-effective than non-almond in cardiovascular disease prevention in all the sensitivity analyses.

Conclusion

Consuming 42.5 g of almonds per day is a cost-effective approach to prevent cardiovascular disease in the short term and potentially in the long term.

Milk Powder Fortified with Potassium and Phytosterols to Decrease the Risk of Cardiovascular Events among the Adult Population in Malaysia: A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis

This study evaluated the cost-effectiveness of the consumption of a milk powder product fortified with potassium (+1050.28 mg/day) and phytosterols (+1200 mg/day) to lower systolic blood pressure and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, respectively, and, therefore, the risk of myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke among the 35-75-year-old population in Malaysia. A Markov model was created against a do-nothing option, from a governmental perspective, and with a time horizon of 40 years. Different data sources, encompassing clinical studies, practice guidelines, grey literature, and statistical yearbooks, were used. Sensitivity analyses were performed to evaluate the impact of uncertainty on the base case estimates. With an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio equal to international dollars (int$) 22,518.03 per quality-adjusted life-years gained, the intervention can be classified as very cost-effective. If adopted nationwide, it would help prevent at least 13,400 MIs, 30,500 strokes, and more than 10,600 and 17,100 MI- and stroke-related deaths. The discounted cost savings generated for the health care system by those who consume the fortified milk powder would amount to int$8.1 per person, corresponding to 0.7% of the total yearly health expenditure per capita. Sensitivity analyses confirmed the robustness of the results. Together with other preventive interventions, the consumption of milk powder fortified with potassium and phytosterols represents a cost-effective strategy to attenuate the rapid increase in cardiovascular burden in Malaysia.

Omega-3 fatty acids and plant sterols as cardioprotective ingredients in beef patties: composition and relevance of nutritional information on sensory characterization

Gel emulsion with cholesterol lowering properties and reduced saturated fat is used to substitute animal fat in beef patties.