Cost-effectiveness of a primary healthcare intervention to treat male lower urinary tract symptoms: the TRIUMPH cluster randomised controlled trial

Abstract

Objectives: to estimate the cost-effectiveness of a primary care intervention for male lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) compared with usual care.

Design: economic evaluation alongside a cluster randomised controlled trial from an UK National Health Service (NHS) perspective with a 12-month time horizon.

Setting: thirty NHS general practice sites in England.

Participants: 1,077 men aged 18 or older identified in primary care with bothersome LUTS.

Interventions: a standardised and manualised intervention for the treatment of bothersome LUTS was compared to usual care. The intervention group (n=524) received a standardised information booklet with guidance on conservative treatment for LUTS, urinary symptom assessment, and follow up contacts for 12 weeks. The usual care group (n=553) followed local guidelines between general practice sites.

Measures: resource use was obtained from electronic health records, trial staff and participants, and valued using UK reference costs. Quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) were calculated from the EQ-5D-5L questionnaire. Adjusted mean differences in costs and QALYs and incremental net monetary benefit were estimated.

Results: 866 of 1,077 (80.4%) participants had complete data and were included in the base-case analysis. Over the 12-month follow-up period, intervention and usual care arms had similar mean adjusted costs and QALYs. Mean differences were lower in the intervention arm for adjusted costs -£29.99 (95% CI -£109.84 to £22.63) while higher in the intervention arm for adjusted QALYs 0.001 (95% CI -0.011 to 0.014). The incremental net monetary benefit statistic was £48.01 (95% CI -£225.83 to £321.85) at the NICE UK threshold of £20,000 per QALY. The cost-effectiveness acceptability curve showed a 63% probability of the intervention arm being cost-effective at this threshold.

Conclusions: costs and QALYs were similar between the two arms at 12 months follow-up. This indicates that the intervention can be implemented in general practice at neutral cost.

Trial registration: ISRCTN11669964.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Margaret Macaulay: orcid.org/0000-0003-1737-4589

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