Challenges in economic evaluations in obstetric care: a scoping review and expert opinion

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study is to identify items of economic evaluation guidelines that are frequently not complied within obstetric economic evaluations and to search for reasons for non-adherence.

DESIGN

Scoping review and qualitative study.

SETTING

Literature on economic evaluations in obstetric care and interviews with experts.

POPULATION OR SAMPLE

The sample included 229 scientific articles and five experts.

METHODS

A systematic literature search was performed. All types of literature about economic evaluations in obstetric care were included. The adherence to guidelines was assessed and articles were qualitatively analysed on additional information about reasons for non-adherence. Issues that arose from the scoping review were discussed with experts.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Adherence to guideline items of the included economic evaluations studies. Analytical themes describing reasons for non-adherence, resulting from qualitative analysis of articles and interviews with experts.

RESULTS

A total of 184 economic evaluations and 45 other type of articles were included. Guideline items frequently not complied with were time horizon, type of economic evaluation and effect measure. Reasons for non-adherence had to do with paucity of long-term health data and assessing and combining outcomes for mother and child resulting from obstetric interventions.

CONCLUSIONS

This study identified items of guidelines that are frequently not complied with and the reasons behind this. The results are a starting point for a broad consensus building on how to deal with these challenges that can result in special guidance for the conduct of economic evaluations in obstetric care.

TWEETABLE ABSTRACT

Non-adherence to guidelines in obstetric economic evaluation studies: the difficulties in detail.

Postnatal screening and care for non-medical risk factors by preventive child healthcare in deprived and non-deprived neighbourhoods

Background

Children born in families with non-medical risk factors, such as deprivation, have higher odds of preterm birth (< 37 weeks of gestation) or being born small for gestational age (birth weight < 10th percentile). In addition, growing up they are at risk for growth and developmental problems. Preventive Child Healthcare (PCHC) monitors growth and development of babies and children. Early identification of children at risk could result in early interventions to prevent growth and developmental problems in later life. Therefore, we aimed to assess current practices in postnatal risk screening and care for non-medical risk factors and the collaboration with other healthcare professionals, in both deprived and non-deprived neighbourhoods in the Netherlands.

Methods

Eight out of ten invited PCHC organisations, from different areas in the Netherlands, consented to participate in this study. A questionnaire was designed and digitally distributed to professionals working at these organisations, where 370 physicians and nurses were employed. Data was collected between June and September 2016. Descriptive statistics, chi square tests and t-tests were applied.

Results

Eighty-nine questionnaires were eligible for analyses. Twenty percent of the respondents were working in a deprived neighbourhood and 70.8% of the respondents were employed as nurse. Most of them performed screening for non-medical risk factors in at least 50% of their consultations. PCHC professionals working in deprived neighbourhoods encountered significantly more often families with non-medical risk factors and experienced significantly more communication problems than their colleagues working in non-deprived neighbourhoods. 48.2% of the respondents were satisfied with the current form of postnatal risk screening in their organisation, whereas 41.2% felt a need for a structured postnatal risk assessment. Intensified collaboration is preferred with district-teams, general practitioners and midwifes, concerning clients with non-medical risk factors.

Conclusion

This study shows that postnatal screening for non-medical risk factors is part of current PCHC practice, regardless the neighbourhood status they are deployed. PCHC professionals consider screening for non-medical risk factors as their responsibility. Consequently, they felt a need for a structured postnatal risk assessment and for an intensified collaboration with other healthcare professionals.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12913-018-3243-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.