
Statistical cost-effectiveness analysis 85
where the expectations are now over the distribution of θ. Equation (3.6) has
clear connections with the ICER defined in equation (1.4). In particular, it is
easy to show that if EIB > 0 then
k>
E[Δ
c
]
E[Δ
e
]
= ICER
and therefore, as suggested in §1.7.1, interventions for which the ICER is less
than the willingness-to-pay threshold are considered cost-effective.
Example (continued)
In order to perform the economic analysis, we need to define suitable measures
of cost and effectiveness. The total cost associated with each treatment can
be computed by multiplying the unit cost of each clinical resource (drugs,
ambulatory ...