Intermittent claudication: pharmacoeconomic and quality-of-life aspects of treatment

The purpose of this article is to review the literature on the pharmacoeconomics of treatment for intermittent claudication and to discuss the importance of quality-of-life assessment for evaluating treatment strategies. Systemic risk reduction is the primary objective in the treatment of patients with intermittent claudication, as these patients have a high future risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Modification of cardiovascular risk factors accompanied by antiplatelet therapy is likely to improve overall survival, reduce myocardial infarction and stroke, and will, perhaps, also reduce the risk of ulcers and amputation at acceptable cost-effectiveness ratios. The second goal in the treatment of patients with intermittent claudication is to improve their walking capacity and community-based functional status. Supervised exercise training is the most effective noninvasive intervention to improve walking capacity, but may have elevated indirect costs. Among patients with disabling claudication who are candidates for invasive therapeutic procedures, angioplasty is cost effective in those with femoropopliteal stenosis or occlusion and in those with critical limb ischaemia and a stenosis. For all these therapeutic strategies there is a need to relate the costs to a relevant and comprehensive measure of effectiveness. Quality-of-life evaluation by using questionnaires exploring the specific problems encountered by patients with intermittent claudication in their daily life appear to be the most appropriate tool to evaluate the net result of a treatment. Cost-utility studies by combining pecuniary and quality-of-life evaluations provide information that is extremely useful to patients with intermittent claudication, regulatory authorities, the pharmaceutical industry and healthcare providers.