Presentation (CTI)

OBJECTIVES: Evaluating female-specific health conditions within health economic models is often constrained by poor-quality, inconsistent, or absent evidence, limiting the robustness of cost-effectiveness analyses. This research aims to identify the key challenges affecting economic evaluation of female-specific conditions within the United Kingdom by establishing common themes and their implications for health economic modelling.
METHODS: A pragmatic and targeted literature search was conducted within published studies and clinical guidelines for female-specific conditions. Recurring challenges were extracted.
RESULTS: Several recurring challenges were identified. Firstly, diagnostic delay was commonly reported. This resulted in women moving between primary and secondary care and receiving multiple or incorrect diagnoses before confirmation, limiting accurate capture of disease progression and costs. Secondly, a lack of standardised diagnostic criteria was across clinicians, trusts, and regions was found. This contributes to uncertainty in prevalence estimates and heterogeneous patient populations, complicating identification of representative cohorts. Thirdly, dedicated clinical guidance remained sparse for many conditions. For example, Fowler's syndrome, a recognised cause of chronic urinary retention, lacks a defined treatment pathway, complicating modelling of comparators and long-term outcomes. Lastly, condition-specific quality-of-life data were scarce. Evaluations often relied on symptom-based utility values, particularly for chronic pain, rather than condition-specific utilities, adding uncertainty to QALY estimates.
CONCLUSIONS: These challenges constrain both population health outcomes and the evidence base needed to demonstrate intervention value for female-specific health conditions. Establishing clear clinical definitions and care pathways would support improved guidance and data generation. However, this requires dedicated research investment to reduce avoidable uncertainty in future economic evaluations.