Estimates of health utility scores in chronic kidney disease

Biomarkers for assessing acute kidney injury for people who are being considered for admission to critical care: a systematic review and cost-effectiveness analysis

BACKGROUND

Acute kidney injury is a serious complication that occurs in the context of an acute critical illness or during a postoperative period. Earlier detection of acute kidney injury may facilitate strategies to preserve renal function, prevent further disease progression and reduce mortality. Acute kidney injury diagnosis relies on a rise in serum creatinine levels and/or fall in urine output; however, creatinine is an imperfect marker of kidney function. There is interest in the performance of novel biomarkers used in conjunction with existing clinical assessment, such as NephroCheck^® (Astute Medical, Inc., San Diego, CA, USA), ARCHITECT^® urine neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) (Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, IL, USA), and urine and plasma BioPorto NGAL (BioPorto Diagnostics A/S, Hellerup, Denmark) immunoassays. If reliable, these biomarkers may enable earlier identification of acute kidney injury and enhance management of those with a modifiable disease course.

OBJECTIVE

The objective was to evaluate the role of biomarkers for assessing acute kidney injury in critically ill patients who are considered for admission to critical care.

DATA SOURCES

Major electronic databases, conference abstracts and ongoing studies were searched up to June 2019, with no date restrictions. MEDLINE, EMBASE, Health Technology Assessment Database, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Web of Science, World Health Organization Global Index Medicus, EU Clinical Trials Register, International Clinical Trials Registry Platform and ClinicalTrials.gov were searched.

REVIEW METHODS

A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to evaluate the performance of novel biomarkers for the detection of acute kidney injury and prediction of other relevant clinical outcomes. Random-effects models were adopted to combine evidence. A decision tree was developed to evaluate costs and quality-adjusted life-years accrued as a result of changes in short-term outcomes (up to 90 days), and a Markov model was used to extrapolate results over a lifetime time horizon.

RESULTS

A total of 56 studies (17,967 participants), mainly prospective cohort studies, were selected for inclusion. No studies addressing the clinical impact of the use of biomarkers on patient outcomes, compared with standard care, were identified. The main sources of bias across studies were a lack of information on blinding and the optimal threshold for NGAL. For prediction studies, the reporting of statistical details was limited. Although the meta-analyses results showed the potential ability of these biomarkers to detect and predict acute kidney injury, there were limited data to establish any causal link with longer-term health outcomes and there were considerable clinical differences across studies. Cost-effectiveness results were highly uncertain, largely speculative and should be interpreted with caution in the light of the limited evidence base. To illustrate the current uncertainty, 15 scenario analyses were undertaken. Incremental quality-adjusted life-years were very low across all scenarios, ranging from positive to negative increments. Incremental costs were also small, in general, with some scenarios generating cost savings with tests dominant over standard care (cost savings with quality-adjusted life-year gains). However, other scenarios generated results whereby the candidate tests were more costly with fewer quality-adjusted life-years, and were thus dominated by standard care. Therefore, it was not possible to determine a plausible base-case incremental cost-effectiveness ratio for the tests, compared with standard care.

LIMITATIONS

Clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness results were hampered by the considerable heterogeneity across identified studies. Economic model predictions should also be interpreted cautiously because of the unknown impact of NGAL-guided treatment, and uncertain causal links between changes in acute kidney injury status and changes in health outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

Current evidence is insufficient to make a full appraisal of the role and economic value of these biomarkers and to determine whether or not they provide cost-effective improvements in the clinical outcomes of acute kidney injury patients.

FUTURE WORK

Future studies should evaluate the targeted use of biomarkers among specific patient populations and the clinical impact of their routine use on patient outcomes and management.

STUDY REGISTRATION

This study is registered as PROSPERO CRD42019147039.

FUNDING

This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Evidence Synthesis programme and will be published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 26, No. 7. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.

Relationship between hemodialysis and health-related quality of life: a cross-sectional study of diagnosis and duration of hemodialysis

Background

Hemodialysis is a medical technology implemented for various renal diseases and has a significant budget impact in Japan. Hemodialysis also affects health-related quality of life, as it interferes with daily life, but the effect of diagnosis and duration of hemodialysis is not clear. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of hemodialysis on health-related quality of life, with a focus on diagnosis and duration of hemodialysis.

Methods

We conducted EQ-5D-5L surveys among hemodialysis patients at a single hemodialysis hospital between November 2015 and September 2017 and used a scoring algorithm that was developed in Japan to calculate the scores.

Results

A total of 274 subjects without missing data were included in the data analysis. The mean score of the entire group was 0.772 ± 0.215. Compared with other domains, pain/discomfort had the highest percentage of problems (59.1%). There were no differences in the distributions with respect to diagnostic names in any domain. Multiple regression analysis showed that hemodialysis duration was the only explanatory variable that had a mild significant effect on EQ-5D-5L scores, but it was not large.

Conclusions

QOL measured using the EQ-5D-5L survey score was not affected by age, gender, or diagnosis but was affected by hemodialysis duration. Future studies are needed to investigate the impact of prolonged hemodialysis on health-related quality of life.

Utilizing the Time Trade-Off, Standard Gamble, and Willingness to Pay Utility Measures to Evaluate Health-Related Quality of Life Prior to Knee or Hip Arthroplasty

BACKGROUND

Time trade-off, standard gamble, and willingness to pay assess the number of years, risk of death, and income a patient would give up for perfect health. These questions were used to evaluate the impact knee arthritis, hip arthritis, or failed total knee (TKA) or hip arthroplasty (THA) has on patients' health-related quality of life prior to surgery.

METHODS

Three hundred sixty patients including 176 undergoing primary TKA, 127 undergoing primary THA, 31 undergoing revision TKA, and 26 undergoing revision THA were assessed. Time trade-off and standard gamble were converted to utility scores with 1.0 suggesting perfect health and 0 suggesting preference for death rather than living in current state. Willingness to pay is the percentage of yearly income that a patient would pay for perfect health.

RESULTS

The mean time trade-off, standard gamble, and willingness to pay scores were 0.74, 0.83, and 0.32 without significant difference between procedures with the numbers available for study (P = .16, .31, and 0.41, respectively). Increasing body mass index was correlated with decreasing time trade-off scores (P = .014).

CONCLUSION

Patients scheduled for primary or revision THA and TKA would accept an average 17% risk of death, lose 2.6 years of an additional 10-year life expectancy, and pay 32% of their income for perfect health. The time trade-off (0.74) was similar to patients with history of acute myocardial infarction (0.74) or minor stroke (0.72) and worse than those with chronic hepatitis C (0.83) or human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome infection (0.86). These data highlight the high value that patients place on adult reconstructive procedures.