PMID- 25692370 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20150511 LR - 20181202 IS - 1524-4040 (Electronic) IS - 0148-396X (Linking) VI - 76 Suppl 1 DP - 2015 Mar TI - Determination of the minimum improvement in pain, disability, and health state associated with cost-effectiveness: introduction of the concept of minimum cost-effective difference. PG - S64-70 LID - 10.1227/01.neu.0000462079.96571.dc [doi] AB - BACKGROUND: Minimum clinical important difference (MCID) has been adopted as the smallest improvement in patient-reported outcome needed to achieve a level of improvement thought to be meaningful to patients. OBJECTIVE: To use a common MCID calculation method with a cost-utility threshold anchor to introduce the concept of minimum cost-effective difference (MCED). METHODS: Forty-five patients undergoing transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion for degenerative spondylolisthesis were included. Outcome questionnaires were administered before and 2 years after surgery. Total cost per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) gained was calculated for each patient. MCED was determined from receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis with a cost-effective anchor of < $50,000/QALY and < $75,000/QALY. MCID was determined with the health transition item as the anchor. RESULTS: Significant improvement was observed 2 years after transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion for all outcome measures. Mean total cost per QALY gained at 2 years was $42,854. MCED was greater than MCID for each outcome measure, meaning that a greater improvement was required to represent cost-effectiveness than a clinically meaningful improvement to patients. The area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve was consistently >/= 0.70 with both cost-effective anchors, suggesting that outcome change scores were accurate predictors of cost-effectiveness. Mean cost per QALY gained was significantly lower for patients achieving compared with those not achieving an MCED in visual analog scale for leg pain ($43,560 vs $112,087), visual analog scale for back pain ($41,280 vs $129440), Oswestry Disability Index ($30,954 vs $121,750), and EuroQol 5D ($35800 vs $189412). CONCLUSION: MCED serves as the smallest improvement in an outcome instrument that is associated with a cost-effective response to surgery. With the use of cost-effective anchor of < $50,000/QALY, MCED after transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion was 4 points for visual analog scale for low back pain, 3 points for visual analog scale for leg pain, 22 points for Oswestry Disability Index, and 0.31 QALYs for EuroQol 5D. FAU - Parker, Scott L AU - Parker SL AD - Department of Neurosurgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and Vanderbilt Spinal Column Surgical Quality and Outcomes Research Laboratory, Nashville, Tennessee. FAU - McGirt, Matthew J AU - McGirt MJ LA - eng PT - Journal Article PL - United States TA - Neurosurgery JT - Neurosurgery JID - 7802914 SB - IM MH - Adult MH - Aged MH - Cohort Studies MH - Cost-Benefit Analysis MH - Female MH - Humans MH - Intervertebral Disc Degeneration/complications/*surgery MH - Low Back Pain/etiology/*surgery MH - Male MH - Middle Aged MH - Pain Measurement MH - Patient Outcome Assessment MH - Quality-Adjusted Life Years MH - Sensitivity and Specificity MH - Spinal Fusion/*economics MH - Spondylolisthesis/complications/*surgery EDAT- 2015/02/19 06:00 MHDA- 2015/05/12 06:00 CRDT- 2015/02/19 06:00 PHST- 2015/02/19 06:00 [entrez] PHST- 2015/02/19 06:00 [pubmed] PHST- 2015/05/12 06:00 [medline] AID - 00006123-201503001-00008 [pii] AID - 10.1227/01.neu.0000462079.96571.dc [doi] PST - ppublish SO - Neurosurgery. 2015 Mar;76 Suppl 1:S64-70. doi: 10.1227/01.neu.0000462079.96571.dc.