Table 10.

Types of economic analysis applicable to anaesthesia

	Input	Output	Output examples
Cost minimization (cost identification)	Direct costs	Not applicable	Outcomes assumed equal
Cost-benefit	All costs	Economic benefits (benefits as monetary units)	Money saved, production gains or return to work
Cost-effectiveness	All costs	Natural units (measured outcomes used directly)	Numbers free from nausea, successfully treated cases
Cost-utility	All costs	Utility units (outcomes converted to common unit)	Quality adjusted life years

Adapted with permission from [20].