Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26848277›Full record

ArticleInternational journal of women's health2016

Economic and clinical benefits of endometrial radiofrequency ablation compared with other ablation techniques in women with menorrhagia: a retrospective analysis with German health claims data.

Christoph Bischoff-Everding, Ruediger Soeder, Benno Neukirch

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in International journal of women's health, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
0.9field-weighted citation impact, top 19% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 11 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Christoph Bischoff-EverdingHGC GesundheitsConsult GmbH, Duesseldorf, Germany.
Ruediger SoederGynecological Joint Practice, Mainz, Germany.
Benno NeukirchFaculty of Health Care, Hochschule Niederrhein - University of Applied Sciences, Krefeld, Germany.
Angiologica (Italy) · ITBioConsult SH (Germany) · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo evaluate the economic and clinical benefits of endometrial radiofrequency ablation (RFA) compared with other ablation techniques for the treatment of menorrhagia.

methodsUsing German health claims data, women meeting defined inclusion criteria for the intervention group (RFA) were selected. A comparable control group (other endometrial ablations) was established using propensity score matching. These two groups were compared during the quarter of treatment (QoT) and a follow-up of 2 years for the following outcomes: costs during QoT and during follow-up, repeated menorrhagia diagnoses during follow-up and necessary retreatments during follow-up.

resultsAfter performing propensity score matching, 50 cases could be allocated to the intervention group, while 38 were identified as control cases. Patients in the RFA group had 5% fewer repeat menorrhagia diagnoses (40% vs 45%; not significant) and 5% fewer treatments associated with recurrent menorrhagia (6% vs 11%; not significant) than cases in the control group. During the QoT, the RFA group incurred €578 additional costs (€2,068 vs €1,490; ns). However, during follow-up, the control group incurred €1,254 additional costs (€4,561 vs €5,815; ns), with medication, outpatient physician consultations, and hospitals costs being the main cost drivers. However, none of the results were statistically significant.

conclusionAlthough RFA was more cost-intensive in the QoT compared with other endometrial ablation techniques, an average total savings of €676 was generated during the follow-up period. While having evidence that RFA is clinically equivalent to other endometrial ablation procedures, we generated indications that RFA is non-inferior and favorable with regard to economic outcomes.

Indexed as

costsendometrial ablationGermanyhealth claims datamenorrhagiaradiofrequency ablation

Identifiers

PMID26848277
PMCPMC4723096
OpenAlexW2278466657

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.