Nantong University Reports Findings in Public Health (Investigating patients’ preferences for new anti-diabetic drugs to inform public health insurance coverage decisions: a discrete choice experiment in China): Health and Medicine – Public Health

2022 OCT 17 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on Health and Medicine - Public Health is the subject of a report. According to news reporting originating from Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Diabetes is a major public health concern with a considerable impact on healthcare expenditures. Deciding on health insurance coverage for new drugs that meet patient needs is a challenge facing policymakers.”

Financial supporters for this research include MOE (Ministry of Education in China) Project of Humanities and Social Sciences, Science and Technology Project of Nantong City, National Natural Science Foundation of China.

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from Nantong University, “Our study aimed to assess patients’ preferences for public health insurance coverage of new anti-diabetic drugs in China. We identified six attributes of new anti-diabetic drugs and used the Bayesian-efficient design to generate choice sets for a discrete choice experiment (DCE). The DCE was conducted in consecutive samples of type 2 diabetes patients in Jiangsu Province. The mixed logit regression model was applied to estimate patient-reported preferences for each attribute. The interaction model was used to investigate preference heterogeneity. Data from 639 patients were available for analysis. On average, the most valued attribute was the improvement in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) (b = 1.383, p< 0.001), followed by positive effects on extending life years (b = 0.787, p< 0.001), and well-controlled glycated haemoglobin (b = 0.724, p< 0.001). The out-of-pocket cost was a negative predictor of their preferences (b = -0.138, p< 0.001). Elderly patients showed stronger preferences for drugs with a lower incidence of serious side effects (p < 0.01) and less out-of-pocket costs (p < 0.01). Patients with diabetes complications favored more in the length of extended life (p < 0.01), improvement in HRQoL (p < 0.05), and less out-of-pocket costs (p < 0.001). The new anti-diabetic drugs with significant clinical effectiveness and long-term health benefits should become the priority for public health insurance.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “The findings also highlight the value of accounting for preference heterogeneity in insurance policy-making.”

For more information on this research see: Investigating patients’ preferences for new anti-diabetic drugs to inform public health insurance coverage decisions: a discrete choice experiment in China. BMC Public Health, 2022;22(1):1860. BMC Public Health can be contacted at: Bmc, Campus, 4 Crinan St, London N1 9XW, England. (BioMed Central - http://www.biomedcentral.com/; BMC Public Health - http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcpublichealth/)

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Jinsong Geng, Nantong University, 226001, Nantong, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China. Additional authors for this research include Haini Bao, Zhe Feng, Jingyi Meng, Xiaolan Yu and Hao Yu.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-14244-z. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Publisher contact information for the journal BMC Public Health is: Bmc, Campus, 4 Crinan St, London N1 9XW, England.

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