Economic Evaluation in Neurological Physiotherapy: A Systematic Review

Area of Science:

• Health Economics
• Neurological Rehabilitation
• Evidence-Based Practice

Background:

• Economic evaluations are crucial for understanding the value of healthcare interventions.
• Neurological physiotherapy offers significant potential for patient recovery and quality of life.
• A comprehensive assessment of existing economic evaluations in this field is needed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review and assess original studies featuring economic evaluations of neurological physiotherapy interventions.
• To identify trends in the types of economic analyses and target pathologies.
• To map the geographic distribution of these studies.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature search of PubMed, Cochrane, and Embase databases.
• Keywords included 'health economics,' 'neurological physiotherapy,' and 'cost analysis.'
• Selection of studies published within the last six years, with 43 studies included from an initial 3124 analyzed.

Main Results:

• The majority of studies focused on interventions for stroke (48.8%) and Parkinson's disease (13.9%).
• Geographic distribution showed dominance from the UK (46.5%) and USA (13.9%).
• Cost-utility analysis was the most common method (22 studies), followed by cost-effectiveness analysis (9 studies).

Conclusions:

• There is a clear upward trend in economic evaluations within neurological physiotherapy.
• Geographic and pathological focus is evident, with a need for broader representation.
• Increased promotion of these economic evaluations is recommended to support evidence-based clinical practice and decision-making.