Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards (CHEERS) statement

Area of Science:

• Health Economics
• Publication Standards
• Health Intervention Evaluation

Background:

• Reporting economic evaluations of health interventions presents challenges.
• Existing guidelines require consolidation and user-friendly updates.
• Medical editors identified a need for improved reporting guidance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To consolidate and update previous health economic evaluation guidelines.
• To provide current, useful reporting guidance for researchers and editors.
• To enhance the quality of health economic evaluations.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review to identify candidate reporting items.
• Modified Delphi panel with diverse stakeholder representation.
• Development of a 24-item checklist and recommendations.

Main Results:

• A 24-item checklist (CHEERS statement) was developed from 44 candidate items.
• Recommendations are presented in a user-friendly format.
• The CHEERS statement is co-published across multiple journals.

Conclusions:

• The CHEERS statement aims to improve reporting of health economic evaluations.
• Enhanced reporting is expected to lead to better health decisions.
• The checklist will be reviewed for updates in five years.