Introduction An important proportion of asthma patients remain uncontrolled despite using inhaled corticosteroids and long-acting beta-agonists. Some add-on therapies, such as tiotropium bromide have been recommended for this subgroup of patients. The purpose of this study was to assess the cost-effectiveness of tiotropium as add-on therapies to ICS + LABA for children and adolescents with uncontrolled allergic asthma. Methods A probabilistic Markov model was created to estimate the cost and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) of patients with severe asthma in Colombia. Total costs and QALYS of two interventions including standard therapy (ICS + LABA), add-on therapy with tiotropium, were calculated over a time horizon from 6 to 18 years. Probability sensitivity analyses were conducted. Cost-effectiveness was evaluated at a willingness-to-pay value of $19,000. Results The model suggests a potential gain of 0.51 QALYs per patient per year on tiotropium, with a difference of US$265 per patient year with respect to standard therapy. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio estimated was U$ 1928 in the deterministic model and US$2,017 in the probabilistic model after Monte-Carlo simulation. Our base‐case results were robust to variations in all assumptions and parameters. Conclusion Add-on therapy with tiotropium was cost-effective when added to usual care in children and adolescents with severe asthma who remained uncontrolled despite treatment with medium or high-dose ICS/LABA. Our study provides evidence that should be used by decision-makers to improve clinical practice guidelines and should be replicated to validate their results in other middle-income countries.

Introduction Previous evidence has shown that FeNO and EO are cost-effective relative to standard of care in guiding the management of children with persistent asthma. There is some doubt as if there are differences between these two biomarkers in terms of costs and benefits. Clarifying this doubt would allow to prioritize in the design of clinical practice guidelines. The study aimed to compare in terms of costs and benefits these biomarkers in patients with asthma between 4 and 18 years of age.3 Methods A Markov model was used to estimate the cost-utility of asthma management using FeNO and EO in patients between 4 and 18 years of age. Transition probabilities, cost and utilities were estimated from previously published local studies, while relative risks were obtained from the systematic review of published randomized clinical trials. The analysis was carried out from a societal perspective. Results FeNO was associated with lower cost (US$ 1333 CI 95% US$ 1331-1335 vs US$ 1452 CI 95% US$ 1449-1454) and highest QALY (0.93 CI 95% 0.93-0.94 vs 0.92 CI 95% 0.91-0.92) than EO. In the sensitivity analyses, our base‐case results were robust to variations of all assumptions and parameters. Conclusion Our study demonstrates that FeNO-guided treatment is better than EO because it offers a greater number of years of life with a lower cost per patient. This evidence should encourage the adoption of any of these techniques to objectively guide the management of children with asthma in routine clinical practice in low resource settings.

Background Impulse oscillometry is an alternative to measure lung function in preschoolers because is much simpler and can be performed in tidal breathing with minimal patient cooperation. The introduction of new health technologies such as impulse oscillometry raises concerns as if the extra benefit offered outweighs the additional cost compared to spirometry This study aimed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of impulse oscillometry in preschoolers in Colombia. Methods We conducted a decision tree model to estimate the cost and proportion of correctly diagnosed cases of asthma of impulse oscillometry compared to spirometry in preschooler’s children between 3-6 years old . The analysis was carried out from a societal perspective. Multiple sensitivity analyses were conducted. Cost-effectiveness was evaluated at a willingness-to-pay value of $19,000. Results With impulse oscillometry, the proportion of correctly diagnosed cases was 42%, while with spirometry was 39%. The expected cost estimated by the model for a patient diagnosed with IOS was U$ 174 while with spirometry was U$ 99. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio estimated in the probabilistic model was US$ 6881. The one-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses, our base‐case results were robust to variations of all assumptions and parameters Conclusion Impulse oscillometry was found to be cost-effective for the diagnosis of asthma in preschoolers. Our results should stimulate further research to expand the use of this diagnostic test in developing countries.

Intravenous Magnesium SulfateIV was cost-saving in emergency settings for treating children with asthma exacerbations. This shift in treatment approach proved to be economically favorable, reducing the cost of hospitalization and mechanical ventilation