Background: Ramipril may prevent cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction and stroke in patients without evidence of left ventricular dysfunction or heart failure who are at high risk for cardiovascular events. In the present study we assessed the cost-effectiveness of ramipril in patients with an increased risk of cardiovascular events from a third party payer's perspective in Switzerland. In addition, the cost-effectiveness of ramipril in the subgroup of diabetic patients was assessed.
Methods: We developed a decision analytic cost-effectiveness model to estimate the incremental costs (in 2001 in Swiss Francs [CHF]), incremental effects (in terms of life-years gained [LYG]) and incremental cost-effectiveness (CHF per LYG) of ramipril versus placebo. Clinical input parameters were derived from the Heart Outcomes Prevention Evaluation (HOPE) study. Cost data were extracted from the literature. Deterministic sensitivity analysis was used to assess the impact of varying the input parameters on the cost effectiveness of the intervention. In addition, first order Monte Carlo simulation was used to capture patient-to-patient variability, presented as cost-effectiveness acceptability curves.
Results: The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of ramipril versus placebo was CHF 6,005 per life-year gained in the base case analysis. In diabetic patients the cost-effectiveness ratio was CHF 3,790 per life-year gained. Varying the price of ramipril in a deterministic sensitivity analysis only had a moderate impact on the cost-effectiveness ratio in the overall population (range: CHF 3,652-15,418 per LYG) as well as in diabetic patients (range: CHF 2,370-9,468 per LYG).
Conclusion: Ramipril in patients at high risk for cardiovascular events represents an efficient use of scarce health care resources in Switzerland and is cost-effective under reasonable assumptions. Ramipril is even more cost-effective in the subgroup of diabetic patients.