Cost-effectiveness of fall prevention programs based on home visits in seniors aged over 65 years – a systematic review

Einleitung/Hintergrund: Preventive home visits are considered a promising intervention to improve health and independent functioning of the elderly whilst reducing health care costs. This systematic review focuses on the cost-effectiveness of preventive home visits, analyzing randomized controlled trials evaluating ICERs with various denominators (QALYs, falls prevented, self-rated health, active life years and successful treatments). Daten und Methoden: Based on an online search (PubMed) and associated grey literature, eight studies providing information on cost-effectiveness of home visits in 65+ patients using ICERs were reviewed. Ergebnisse: While four studies display cost-effectiveness, three do not, and one proved cost-effectiveness only for a subgroup of the study sample. Diskussion/Schlussfolgerungen: Cost-effectiveness of preventive home visits appears to depend on careful adaption of sought out measures, for certain settings in special environments for designated patients and disease patterns, on a case-by-case basis. Starting points for further researches are the components of the economic evaluation, the setting, personnel and measures of the intervention, as well as the careful selection and analysis of the study sample and its subgroups.