Abstract

Objective

To assess the cost-effectiveness of rosuvastatin in the treatment of hypercholesterolemia and the prevention of ischemic heart disease (IHD) in Portugal.

Methods

A probabilistic Markov model was constructed to analyze the costs and consequences of lifetime treatment with rosuvastatin, atorvastatin, pravastatin, and simvastatin. For this purpose, the results from randomized head-to-head trials evaluating low-density lipoprotein (LDL) changes were combined with the results from a meta-analysis defining the relationship between LDL levels and fatal and nonfatal IHD events. The incidence of myocardial infarction (MI) was derived from a 9-year Portuguese observational study. The eligible population was defined as untreated individuals aged more than 35 years with LDL levels above 115 mg/dl. Death rates due to IHD and other causes were obtained from official data. Resource use in the treatment of MI was estimated by a Delphi panel of eight Portuguese cardiologists with at least 15 years of clinical practice. Costs were calculated from the payers' perspective.

Results

Rosuvastatin increases life expectancy between 5.5 and 12.1 days per patient. It is cost-saving when compared to atorvastatin, but it increases costs when assessed against pravastatin and simvastatin (€1,004 and €684 per patient, respectively). Therefore, rosuvastatin is a dominant alternative compared to atorvastatin, having an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of €30,350 to pravastatin and €39,340 to simvastatin. In the probabilistic sensitivity analysis, performed rosuvastatin always dominates atorvastatin and is associated with a cost per life-year gained inferior to €50,000 in 95.7% of the cases when compared to pravastatin and in 67.0% simulations when assessed against simvastatin.

Conclusions

Rosuvastatin is a cost-effective alternative in the prevention of IHD in Portugal.