OBJECTIVES : Economic evaluations of new drugs in Russia have been published since the 1990s. There is no set of economic evaluation guidelines that is fully accepted by the community of health economists in Russia. This study aimed to assess the scope and quality of economic evaluations in oncology, with the goal of elucidating implications for improving their use in Russia

METHODS : Online databases were searched for oncologic economic evaluations written in Russian. Data were extracted and assessed with the Quality of Health Economic Studies (QHES) instrument. In addition, the QHES was modified to overcome double–barreled items in a single criterion.

RESULTS

Of 29 articles identified, 15 met study criteria and were included in the review. The majority of studies analyzed Cost-Effectiveness of 1^st and 2^nd line therapies for lung and kidney cancer. The others analyzed prostate, breast, colorectal cancers and lymphoma. The QHES mean quality score for the reviewed studies was 74 (and 69 with the modified tool). Comparison of the quality of different study types revealed that cost utility studies and studies that used decision trees and Markov models had the highest mean quality score. Clear statement regarding bias, study limitations, uncertainty, study perspectives and funding source were commonly absent in the reviewed studies.

CONCLUSIONS

Our review indicates that oncologic economic evaluations published in Russian are limited in scope and number. In addition, they demonstrate opportunities for improvement in several important technical areas.