A novel framework to assess the prevention value of a health intervention

Interest in capturing chronic disease prevention impacts on broader economic and societal outcomes is growing; however, this has been challenging to date. We present a comprehensive framework to support assessment of prevention value from a range of stakeholder perspectives, using obesity as an illustrative example.

We identified three domains in which to group value components: individual health/health system, societal, and government. Longlisting and shortlisting of value components was supported by a targeted literature review, quality assessment against four criteria and review by six health economic and policy experts. Worked examples illustrate the applicability of the framework using two UK-based hypothetical intervention effects: a 5% obesity incidence reduction and a 0.5-unit improvement in SF-12 scores.

Twenty-nine value components were identified: 7 related to individual health/healthcare system, 18 to societal and 4 to government value. Of these, 17 were shortlisted into 9 categories: individual health, healthcare system, productivity, family impact, health equity and social mobility, environmental, income-related benefits, sickness benefits, and income tax. We also identified six components for future consideration, where current data and methodologies are limited.

We propose a value framework that goes beyond traditional health benefit measures to holistically assess chronic disease prevention value. While data limitations prevented the quantification of all shortlisted components, this does not preclude a qualitative discussion of these components in evaluating a preventative intervention. The framework should now be tested with live interventions and key stakeholders to standardise methodologies and enhance future acceptability and use.