Economic evidence

This chapter focuses on methods to incorporate a health economics perspective into a Cochrane Review. Two optional methodological frameworks have been developed for incorporating economic evidence into reviews. The frameworks are integrated full systematic review of economic evidence; and brief economic commentary. The aim of incorporating an economic perspective into the review is to place an ‘economic lens’ on the health condition (population) being addressed and the interventions being investigated in the review. This should be discussed in the Background to the review, to highlight the relevance of economic issues and context to the questions that the review will address. Three distinct economic issues to consider highlighting in the Background section of a review are the economic burden of the health condition (i.e. the ‘cost of illness’); potential impacts of intervention(s) on resource use (costs); and general issues of intervention costs and cost‐effectiveness that are relevant for the readers of the review to consider.