2007

World in Your Pocket: A Handbook of International Health Economic Statistics

World In Your Pocket - a Handbook of International Health Economic Statistics includes the most current available data, presented in separate sections on health status, health care costs, health resources, health resources, health resource utilization and health system performance.

Alberta Diabetes Atlas

The Alberta Diabetes Atlas 2007 is a compilation of facts and figures about diabetes and its comorbidities over the last decade. it provides diabetes trends over time, across age and across Alberta health regions. This Atlas is a product of the Alberta Diabetes Surveillance System (ADSS), a partnership between the Institute of Health Economics (IHE) and Alberta Health and Wellness (AHW).

Cost-effectiveness in the Detection of Syphilis

A new protocol for testing and diagnosing syphilis has been proposed in Alberta. The protocol proposes replacing rapid plasma reagin (RPR) with enzyme immunoassay (EIA) as the standard initial test and replacing Treponema pallidum (T.pallidum) particle agglutination assay (TPPA) and fluorescent treponemal antibody-absorbed (FTA-Abs) with Inno-Lia (IL) as the standard confirmatory test. The primary aim of this report is to provide a cost effectiveness analysis (CEA) of the proposed protocol (EIA+IL). Information regarding Social and System Demographics and Technolgoy Effects and Effectiveness is also provided.

Economics of Childhood Immunizations in Canada: Data Book

This booklet is a compendium of existing statistics related to the economic aspect of childhood immunizations in Canada. It brings together, in one document, data obtained from a wide range of sources. It covers topics related to the economic and epidemiological burden of childhood diseases, resources used, and system performance from provincial, national and international viewpoints.

Evidence of Benefits from Telemental Health: A Systematic Review

This review considers the evidence of benefit from use of telemental health (TMH) in studies that had clinical, economic, or administrative outcomes. The review also includes studies that provided information on the accuracy or feasibility of TMH.

Mental Health Economic Statistics: In Your Pocket

This booklet brings together information that demonstrates the burden of mental illness and where Canada's mental health system ranks among other developed countries. It also provides important consolidated information on key indicators that depict the state of our mental health system.

Routine Preoperative Tests – Are They Necessary?

Routine Preoperative Tests - are they necessary? is about the routine preoperative testing on otherwise healthy patients who are scheduled for elective surgery. This report is a synopsis of the findings from some of the major health technology assessments and systematic reviews on preoperative testing published during the last two decades. The implications of these results for Alberta are discussed in order to assist decision-makers in efforts to revise institutional preoperative testing routines.

Screening Newborns for Cystic Fibrosis

A successful screening program for CF refers to the ability of the program to appropriately identify and refer for care those with CF, while meeting the needs of those who do not have CF, particularly those infants identified by the screening program as carriers (individuals unaffected by CF but have a mutation in one of their CFTR genes). (24) Some measures of success might include: (1) how closely the screen approaches 100% sensitivity, (2) the ability of the screen to minimize intrusion on the lives of parents of unaffected infants, (3) the acceptability by the families regarding the integration of CF into existing screening programs, or (4) the acceptability and impact on primary care physicians who must deal with screening results and parental anxieties. (24) This report reviews the evidence in the field.

Screening Newborns for Hearing

Permanent congenial hearing impairment/ loss (PCHI) is one of the most common congenital anomalies found at birth which can be expected to lead to delays and deficits in the development of speech, language, cognition and learning, as well as secondary effets on the child and family. Limited scientific evidence suggests that early identification and subsequent appropriate intervention (within the first 6 months) in infants with PCHI can minimize these effects. As a result, there has been a growing interest for universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) in attempts to diagnose PCHI as early as possible. This report reviews the evidence in the field.

The Use and Benefits of Teleoncology

This report determines the current state of evidence on teleoncology applications to improve access to care closer to home for rural patients and families affected by a diagnosis of cancer.