Pharmacoeconomic Analysis on Boiogito in Conservative Drug Therapy for Knee Osteoarthritis

Economic evaluation of Kampo therapy

“…Of the 27 studies, the most common type of source was other, which included commentaries, special features, discussions, electronic magazines, consisting of 16 studies (Table ) . There were seven original articles and four studies that used minutes as a source .…”

“…Of the 14 inter‐group comparisons, three were n = 10–99 , seven were n = 100–999 one was n ≥ 1000 , and three did not mention the sample size (Table ) .…”

“…Of the 27 studies, 16 studies covered direct costs (pharmaceutical costs only) , seven covered direct costs (including non‐pharmaceutical medical costs) , and three covered direct costs and indirect costs (including loss of productivity; Table ) .…”

“…Of the 27 studies, 19 cited hospitals, clinics, or medical offices , four cited multiple institutions (hospital, pharmacy etc.) and one did not mention the medical institution (Table ) .…”

“…Koinuma and Shiragami evaluated the cost‐effectiveness of Kampo therapy with boiogito (stephania and astragalus decoction) for patients with knee osteoarthritis (K‐OA) compared with a control group treated with non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) . Baseline and sensitivity analyses both showed that the necessary treatment costs to achieve successful endpoint tended to be higher in the Kampo group, followed by the NSAIDs group, and then the combined Kampo and Western therapy group .…”