Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T05:53:45.928Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Some Observations on the Assessment of Preventive Technologies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2009

Jeffrey P. Koplan  and
Felix F. Gutzwiller
Jeffrey P. Koplan
Affiliation:
Centers for Disease Control
Felix F. Gutzwiller
Affiliation:
University of Zurich
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The articles in this issue of the International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care (IJTAHC) have explored the assessment of preventive health technologies. When considered together, these technologies provide an interesting contrast with the health care technologies that are usually evaluated on these pages. Disease prevention and its twin, health promotion, are usually practiced on a well population. Thus, many persons have the technology applied to them but only a fraction of these would have acquired the condition being prevented. Often the intervention is applied to populations rather than to individuals. The unit cost for preventive technologies is usually far less than that of diagnostic or therapeutic technologies. However, when multiplied by the larger population to be involved in the prevention program, the total costs can be considerable. In concluding this section on prevention, we would like to examine some of the larger areas of difference between preventive and other health technologies illustrated by the papers assembled here.

Type
Special Section: Assessment Of Preventive Technologies
Information
International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care , Volume 7 , Issue 3 , Summer 1991 , pp. 361 - 364
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Chorba, T. L.Assessing technologies for preventing injuries in motor vehicle crashes. International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care, 1991, 7, 296–314.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2.Corbin, S. B.Oral disease prevention technologies for community use. International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care, 1991, 7, 327–44.Google Scholar
3.Dwyer, T., Viney, R., & Jones, M.Assessing school health education programs. International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care, 1991, 7, 286–95.Google Scholar
4.Eddy, D. M.Screening for cancer. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1980.Google Scholar
5.Hatziandreu, E. J., Hatzakis, A., Hatziyannis, S., Kane, M. A., & Weinstein, M. C.Cost-effectiveness of hepatitis-B vaccine in Greece: A country of intermediate HBV endemicity. International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care, 1991, 7, 256–62.Google Scholar
6.Institute of Medicine. Assessing medical technologies. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1985.Google Scholar
7.Mackay, J., & Davis, R. M.Assessing community interventions to reduce smoking. International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care, 1991, 7, 345–53.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8.Morrison, A. S.Screening in chronic disease. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985.Google Scholar
9.Office of Technology Assessment. Assessing the efficacy and safety of medical technologies. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1978.Google Scholar
10.Redelmeier, D. A., & Tversky, A.Discrepancy between medical decisions for individual patients and for groups. New England Journal of Medicine, 1990, 322, 1162–64.Google Scholar
11.Rosenbrock, R. D.Screening for human immunodeficiency virus. International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care, 1991, 7, 263–74.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
12.Thacker, S. B., … Berkelman, R. L.Surveillance of medical technologies. Journal of Public Health Policy, 1986, 7, 363–77.Google Scholar
13.Vartiainen, E., Heath, G., & Ford, E.Assessing population-based programs to reduce blood cholesterol level and saturated fats. International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care, 1991, 7, 315–26.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed