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Trapero-Bertran M, Pokhrel S, Hanney S. Research can be integrated into public health policy-making: global lessons for and from Spanish economic evaluations. Health Res Policy Syst 2022; 20:67. [PMID: 35717247 PMCID: PMC9206096 DOI: 10.1186/s12961-022-00875-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2021] [Accepted: 05/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
WHO promotes the use of research in policy-making to drive improvements in health, including in achieving Sustainable Development Goals such as tobacco control. The European Union’s new €95 billion Horizon Europe research framework programme parallels these aims, and also includes commitments to fund economic evaluations. However, researchers often express frustration at the perceived lack of attention to scientific evidence during policy-making. For example, some researchers claim that evidence regarding the return on investment from optimal implementation of evidence-based policies is frequently overlooked. An increasingly large body of literature acknowledges inevitable barriers to research use, but also analyses facilitators encouraging such use. This opinion piece describes how some research is integrated into policy-making. It highlights two recent reviews. One examines impact assessments of 36 multi-project research programmes and identifies three characteristics of projects more likely to influence policy-making. These include a focus on healthcare system needs, engagement of stakeholders, and research conducted for organizations supported by structures to receive and use evidence. The second review suggests that such characteristics are likely to occur as part of a comprehensive national health research system strategy, especially one integrated into the healthcare system. We also describe two policy-informing economic evaluations conducted in Spain. These examined the most cost-effective package of evidence-based tobacco control interventions and the cost-effectiveness of different strategies to increase screening coverage for cervical cancer. Both projects focused on issues of healthcare concern and involved considerable stakeholder engagement. The Spanish examples reinforce some lessons from the global literature and, therefore, could help demonstrate to authorities in Spain the value of developing comprehensive health research systems, possibly following the interfaces and receptor model. The aim of this would be to integrate needs assessment and stakeholder engagement with structures spanning the research and health systems. In such structures, economic evaluation evidence could be collated, analysed by experts in relation to healthcare needs, and fed into both policy-making as appropriate, and future research calls. The increasingly large local and global evidence base on research utilization could inform detailed implementation of this approach once accepted as politically desirable. Given the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing the cost-effectiveness of healthcare systems and return on investment of public health interventions becomes even more important.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marta Trapero-Bertran
- Basic Sciences Department, Patients Institute, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Subhash Pokhrel
- Health Economics Research Group, Department of Health Sciences, Brunel University London, London, UK.
| | - Stephen Hanney
- Health Economics Research Group, Department of Health Sciences, Brunel University London, London, UK
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Trapero-Bertran M, Acera Pérez A, de Sanjosé S, Manresa Domínguez JM, Rodríguez Capriles D, Rodriguez Martinez A, Bonet Simó JM, Sanchez Sanchez N, Hidalgo Valls P, Díaz Sanchis M. Cost-effectiveness of strategies to increase screening coverage for cervical cancer in Spain: the CRIVERVA study. BMC Public Health 2017; 17:194. [PMID: 28196467 PMCID: PMC5309977 DOI: 10.1186/s12889-017-4115-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2016] [Accepted: 02/06/2017] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The aim of the study is to carry out a cost-effectiveness analysis of three different interventions to promote the uptake of screening for cervical cancer in general practice in the county of Valles Occidental, Barcelona, Spain. METHODS Women aged from 30 to 70 years (n = 15,965) were asked to attend a general practice to be screened. They were randomly allocated to one of four groups: no intervention group (NIG); one group where women received an invitation letter to participate in the screening (IG1); one group where women received an invitation letter and informative leaflet (IG2); and one group where women received an invitation letter, an informative leaflet and a phone call reminder (IG3). Clinical effectiveness was measured as the percentage increase in screening coverage. A cost-effectiveness analysis was performed from the perspective of the public health system with a time horizon of three to five years - the duration of the randomised controlled clinical trial. In addition, a deterministic sensitivity analysis was performed. Results are presented according to different age groups. RESULTS The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) for the most cost-effective intervention, IG1, compared with opportunistic screening was € 2.78 per 1% increase in the screening coverage. The age interval with the worst results in terms of efficiency was women aged < 40 years. CONCLUSIONS In a population like Catalonia, with around 2 million women aged 30 to 70 years and assuming that 40% of these women were not attending general practice to be screened for cervical cancer, the implementation of an intervention to increase screening coverage which consists of sending a letter would cost on average less than € 490 for every 1000 women. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01373723 .
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Affiliation(s)
- Marta Trapero-Bertran
- Economy and Business Organisation Department, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (UIC), Barcelona, Spain
- Centre for Research in Economics and Health (CRES), University Pompeu Fabra, c/Immaculada 22, 08017 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Amelia Acera Pérez
- Atenció a la Salut Sexual i Reproductiva (ASSIR) SAP Cerdanyola-Ripollet, Institut Catala de la Salut, Ripollet, Barcelona, Spain
- Unitat de Suport a la Recerca Metropolitana Nord, IDIAP Jordi Gol. Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain
- Grup de Recerca GRASSIR reconegut per la Generalitat de Catalunya SGR 2014-2016, Barcelona, Spain
- Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Silvia de Sanjosé
- Cancer Epidemiology Research Programme (CERP), Institut Català d’Oncologia-IDIBELL, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red (CIBERESP), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Josep Maria Manresa Domínguez
- Unitat de Suport a la Recerca Metropolitana Nord, IDIAP Jordi Gol. Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain
- Departament de Infermeria, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Diego Rodríguez Capriles
- Atenció a la Salut Sexual i Reproductiva (ASSIR) SAP Cerdanyola-Ripollet, Institut Catala de la Salut, Ripollet, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Ana Rodriguez Martinez
- Atenció a la Salut Sexual i Reproductiva (ASSIR) SAP Cerdanyola-Ripollet, Institut Catala de la Salut, Ripollet, Barcelona, Spain
| | | | - Norman Sanchez Sanchez
- Sistemes d’Informació Sanitària, SAP Vallés Occidental, Institut Catala de la Salut, Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Pablo Hidalgo Valls
- SAP Vallés Occidental, Institut Català de la Salut, Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Mireia Díaz Sanchis
- Cancer Epidemiology Research Programme (CERP), Institut Català d’Oncologia-IDIBELL, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red (CIBERESP), Barcelona, Spain
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Acera A, Manresa JM, Rodriguez D, Rodriguez A, Bonet JM, Trapero-Bertran M, Hidalgo P, Sànchez N, de Sanjosé S. Increasing Cervical Cancer Screening Coverage: A Randomised, Community-Based Clinical Trial. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0170371. [PMID: 28118410 PMCID: PMC5261609 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0170371] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2016] [Accepted: 12/30/2016] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Opportunistic cervical cancer screening can lead to suboptimal screening coverage. Coverage could be increased after a personalised invitation to the target population. We present a community randomized intervention study with three strategies aiming to increase screening coverage. METHODS The CRICERVA study is a community-based clinical trial to improve coverage of population-based screening in the Cerdanyola SAP area in Barcelona.A total of 32,858 women residing in the study area, aged 30 to 70 years were evaluated. A total of 15,965 women were identified as having no registration of a cervical cytology in the last 3.5 years within the Public Health data base system. Eligible women were assigned to one of four community randomized intervention groups (IGs): (1) (IG1 N = 4197) personalised invitation letter, (2) (IG2 N = 3601) personalised invitation letter + informative leaflet, (3) (IG3 N = 6088) personalised invitation letter + informative leaflet + personalised phone call and (4) (Control N = 2079) based on spontaneous demand of cervical cancer screening as officially recommended. To evaluate screening coverage, we used heterogeneity tests to compare impact of the interventions and mixed logistic regression models to assess the age effect. We refer a "rescue" visit as the screening visit resulting from the study invitation. RESULTS Among the 13,886 women in the IGs, 2,862 were evaluated as having an adequate screening history after the initial contact; 4,263 were lost to follow-up and 5,341 were identified as having insufficient screening and thus being eligible for a rescue visit. All intervention strategies significantly increased participation to screening compared to the control group. Coverage after the intervention reached 84.1% while the control group reached 64.8%. The final impact of our study was an increase of 20% in the three IGs and of 9% in the control group (p<0.001). Within the intervention arms, age was an important determinant of rescue visits showing a statistical interaction with the coverage attained in the IGs. Within the intervention groups, final screening coverage was significantly higher in IG3 (84.4%) (p<0.001). However, the differences were more substantial in the age groups 50-59 and those 60+. The highest impact of the IG3 intervention was observed among women 60+ y.o with 32.0% of them being rescued for screening. The lowest impact of the interventions was in younger women. CONCLUSIONS The study confirms that using individual contact methods and assigning a fixed screening date notably increases participation in screening. The response to the invitation is strongly dependent on age. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01373723.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amelia Acera
- Atenció a la Salut Sexual i Reproductiva (ASSIR) SAP Cerdanyola–Ripollet, Institut Català de la Salut, Ripollet, Spain
- Unitat de Suport a la Recerca Metropolitana Nord. Institut de Investigació en Atenció Primària (IDIAP) Jordi Gol. Sabadell, Spain
- Departament de Medicina, Universitat de Barcelona. Barcelona, Spain
- Grup de Recerca en Atenció Sexual i Reproductiva IDIAP Jordi Gol. Sabadell, Spain
| | - Josep Maria Manresa
- Unitat de Suport a la Recerca Metropolitana Nord. Institut de Investigació en Atenció Primària (IDIAP) Jordi Gol. Sabadell, Spain
- Departament de Infermeria. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Bellaterra, Cerdanyola, Spain
| | - Diego Rodriguez
- Atenció a la Salut Sexual i Reproductiva (ASSIR) SAP Cerdanyola–Ripollet, Institut Català de la Salut, Ripollet, Spain
| | - Ana Rodriguez
- Atenció a la Salut Sexual i Reproductiva (ASSIR) SAP Cerdanyola–Ripollet, Institut Català de la Salut, Ripollet, Spain
| | - Josep Maria Bonet
- Servei d’Atenció Primària SAP Vallés Occidental. Institut Català de la Salut, Sabadell, Spain
| | - Marta Trapero-Bertran
- Center for Research in Economics and Health (CRES). University Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
- Universidad de Castilla La Mancha. Ciudad Real, Spain
| | - Pablo Hidalgo
- Servei d’Atenció Primària SAP Vallés Occidental. Institut Català de la Salut, Sabadell, Spain
| | - Norman Sànchez
- Servei d’Atenció Primària SAP Vallés Occidental. Institut Català de la Salut, Sabadell, Spain
| | - Silvia de Sanjosé
- Cancer Epidemiology Research Programme | IDIBELL | Catalan Institute of Oncology, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en Epidemiologia y Salud Pública CIBERESP, Barcelona, Spain
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Underscreened Women Remain Overrepresented in the Pool of Cervical Cancer Cases in Spain: A Need to Rethink the Screening Interventions. BIOMED RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 2015; 2015:605375. [PMID: 26180804 PMCID: PMC4477117 DOI: 10.1155/2015/605375] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2014] [Revised: 11/10/2014] [Accepted: 11/19/2014] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Audit of women with invasive cervical cancer (CC) is critical for quality control within screening activities. We analysed the screening history in the 10 years preceding the study entry in women with and without CC during 2000-2011. METHODS 323 women with CC from six pathology departments in Catalonia (Spain) and 23,782 women with negative cytology were compared. Age, previous history of cytologies, and histological type and FIGO stage were collected from the pathology registries. Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI95%). RESULTS History of cytology was registered in 26.2% of CC cases and in 78% of the control women (P < 0.0001) and its frequency decreased with increasing age. Compared to women with squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma cases were significantly more likely to have a cytology within the 3-year interval preceding cancer diagnosis (OR = 2.6 CI 95%: 1.2-5.6) and to have normal cytology results in previous screenings (OR = 2.4 CI 95%: 1.2-4.5). FIGO II-IV cases were more common among older women (older than 60 years). CONCLUSIONS Absence of prior screening history was extremely common among CC cases compared to controls. Organized actions to reduce underscreened women and use of highly sensitive HPV-based tests could be important to reduce CC burden.
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Protecting the underscreened women in developed countries: the value of HPV test. BMC Cancer 2014; 14:574. [PMID: 25102758 PMCID: PMC4137095 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2407-14-574] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2014] [Accepted: 08/01/2014] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Poor attendance to cervical cancer (CC) screening is a major risk factor for CC. Efforts to capture underscreened women are considerable and once women agree to participate, the provision of longitudinal validity of the screening test is of paramount relevance. We evaluate the addition of high risk HPV test (HPV) to cervical cytology as a primary screening test among underscreened women in the longitudinal prediction of intraepithelial lesions grade 2 or worse (CIN2+). Methods Women were included in the study if they were older than 39 years and with no evidence of cervical cytology in the previous five years within the Public Primary Health Care System in Catalonia (Spain). 1,832 underscreened women from eight public primary health areas were identified during 2007–2008 and followed-up for over three years to estimate longitudinal detection of CIN2+. Accuracy of each screening test and the combination of both to detect CIN2+ was estimated. The risk of developing CIN2+ lesions according to histology data by cytology and HPV test results at baseline was estimated using the Kaplan–Meier method. Results At baseline, 6.7% of participants were HPV positive, 2.2% had an abnormal cytology and 1.3% had both tests positive. At the end of follow-up, 18 out of 767 (2.3%) underscreened women had a CIN2+, two of which were invasive CC. The three-year longitudinal sensitivity and specificity estimates to detect CIN2+ were 90.5% and 93.0% for HPV test and 38.2% and 97.8% for cytology. The negative predictive value was >99.0% for each test. No additional gains in validity parameters of HPV test were observed when adding cytology as co-test. The referral to colposcopy was higher for HPV but generated 53% higher detection of CIN2+ compared to cytology. Conclusions Underscreened women had high burden of cervical disease. Primary HPV screening followed by cytology triage could be the optimal strategy to identify CIN2+ leading to longer and safe screen intervals.
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Acera A, Manresa JM, Rodriguez D, Rodriguez A, Bonet JM, Sanchez N, Hidalgo P, Soteras P, Toran P, Trapero-Bertran M, Lozano I, De Sanjose S. Analysis of three strategies to increase screening coverage for cervical cancer in the general population of women aged 60 to 70 years: the CRICERVA study. BMC WOMENS HEALTH 2014; 14:86. [PMID: 25026889 PMCID: PMC4106208 DOI: 10.1186/1472-6874-14-86] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2013] [Accepted: 07/09/2014] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Background Cervical cancer is a frequently diagnosed cancer in women worldwide. Despite having easy preventive and therapeutic approaches, it is an important cause of mortality among women. Methods The CRICERVA study is a cluster clinical trial which assigned one of three interventions to the target population registered in Cerdanyola, Barcelona. Among the 5,707 resident women aged 60 to 70 years in the study area, women with no record of cervical cytology over the last three years were selected. The study included four arms: three interventions all including a pre-assigned date for screening visit and i) personalized invitation letter; ii) adding to i) an informative leaflet; and, iii) in addition to ii) a personalized appointment reminder phone call, and iv) no specific action taken (control group). Participants were offered a personal interview about social-demographic characteristics and about screening attitudes. Cervical cytology and HPV DNA test (HC2) were offered as screening tests. In the case of screening positive in any of these tests, the women were followed up until a full diagnosis could be obtained. The effect size of each study arm was estimated as the absolute gain in coverage between the original coverage and the final coverage. Results From the intervention groups (4,775 women), we identified 3,616 who were not appropriately screened, of which 2,560 women answered the trial call and 1,376 were amenable to screening. HPV was tested in 920 women and cervical cytology in all 1,376. Overall, there was an absolute gain in coverage of 28.8% in the intervention groups compared to 6% in the control group. Coverage increased from 51.2% to 76.0% in strategy i); from 47.4% to 79.0% in strategy ii) and from 44.5% to 74.6% in strategy iii). Lack of information about the relevance of screening was the most important factor for not attending the screening program. Conclusions The study confirms that actively contacting women and including a date for a screening visit, notably increased participation in the screening program. Efforts to improve health education in preventative activities are warranted. Trial registration Clinical Trials.gov Identifier NCT01373723. Registered 14 June 2011.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amelia Acera
- Atenció a la Salut Sexual i Reproductiva (ASSIR), SAP Cerdanyola -Ripollet, Institut Català de la Salut, Carretera N-150 s/n, Ripollet, Barcelona, Spain.
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[Cost-benefit analysis of a population-based cervical cancer screening program designed for Cantabria]. Semergen 2014; 40:296-304. [PMID: 24534799 DOI: 10.1016/j.semerg.2013.11.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2013] [Revised: 10/23/2013] [Accepted: 11/23/2013] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer worldwide in women, with an annual mortality of 3.6 per 100.000 women in Spain. An opportunistic screening protocol is currently being developed in Cantabria. The objective of the study is to propose a population-based screening program in Cantabria and assess its cost-benefits. PATIENTS AND METHODS The population-based program design has been carried out according to the description of the natural course of cervical cancer and its incidence and mortality in Cantabria during 2000-2009. There have been some proposals to increase participation in the program and to evaluate its quality. Costs and benefits (direct and indirect) have been analyzed in several scenarios by modifying the frequency of tests (3-5 years), the age at which the program can be accessed (21, 25 or 30 years), the coverage of the program (60-80%), and discount rates (0-3-6%). RESULTS A program carried out with coverage of 80% and tests performed every 3 years generates annual costs of €893.000 (discount rate of 3%) compared to the current opportunistic protocol. Scenarios with tests performed every 5 years generate an annual benefit higher than €618.000, depending on the age of accessing the program. CONCLUSIONS Scenarios with coverage lower than 60% or with women over 30 years old having access to the program are not of interest because of the lower health benefits. However, performing tests every 5 years is more economically advantageous than every 3 years, with similar health benefits.
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