Cost-effectiveness of dexamethasone compared with aflibercept in naïve diabetic macular edema

Table 1 Direct medical costs related to DME treatment and follow-up (€) for dexamethasone and aflibercept

	Unit cost mean^a (SD) Euros	Annual resource use^b
		Aflibercept	Dexamethasone
Retina specialist consultation	112 (24)	12 (6–18)	8 (4–12)
Fundus photography	20 (4)	12 (6–18)	8 (4–12)
Optical coherence tomography	149 (30)	6 (3–9)	4 (2–8)
Fluorescein angiography	42 (8)	2 (1–3)	2 (1–3)
Dexamethasone vial	750.92 (208)	–	3.1^c
Aflibercept vial	588.8 (139)	9.8^c	–
Adverse reactions^d
Endophthalmitis	3156 (631)	0.006	0.0128
Lens damage	1600 (320)	0.004	0.006
Retinal detachment	3702 (740)	0.004	0.007

^aUnit costs were obtained from an observational study [10] and inflated to 2020 € with Spanish health care indices. Unit costs for drug vials were obtained from the Spanish Council of Pharmacists Database. Aflibercept and Dexamethasone are 100% reimbursed by the Spanish National Health System. SDs (standard deviation) were selected to produce variation coefficients of 20%
^bThe number of follow on consultations and diagnostic procedures per patient/year were determined by a retina ophthalmologist. In parenthesis, the range of values tested in the probabilistic sensitivity analysis is provided. The number of drug injections and adverse reactions per patient/year were obtained from the VISION and VISTA trials
^cThe number of per-year aflibercept and dexamethasone injections were tested in the sensitivity analysis
^dUnit costs for the diagnosis-related group in Spain were obtained from the Spanish Health Ministry

ISSN: 1478-7547