Table 4. Comparison of cost-effectiveness for maintenance hemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD): Lifetime survival functions and costs were estimated from 1:1 matched pairs of incident dialysis patients from the national dialysis cohorts (n = 4285 pairs) based on 14 years of follow-up, and utility values measured for prevalent dialysis patients from the cross-sectional samples after matching (n = 179 pairs).
| HD | PD | p-value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Life expectancy (in years) (SE) | 19.11 (0.11) | 19.08 (0.09) | 0.853 |
| Lifetime cost of NHI ± SE (US dollars) | 237,795 ± 6,161* | 204,442 ± 4,888* | <0.001 |
| QALE (in QALY) (SE) | 16.42 (0.47) | 17.41 (0.24) | 0.072 |
| QALE (in QALY) (SE) (with 3% discount) | 14.29(0.39) | 14.94(0.2) | 0.149 |
| Cost per QALY ± SE (US dollars) | 16,643 ± 659* | 13,681 ± 354* | <0.001 |
| ICER (PD-HD) | −50,858* (PD dominance) | ||
Abbreviations: NHI: National Health Insurance; SE: standard error of mean; QALE: quality-adjusted life expectancy; QALY: quality-adjusted life year; ICER: incremental cost-effectiveness ratio.
*The currency exchange rate is based on the value reported by the Central Bank of Taiwan on 2010/12/31: 1 United States Dollar = 30.368 New Taiwan Dollar. The gross domestic product per capita of Taiwan in 2010 is 18,573 US Dollar.