Table 1.

Basic concepts of economic evaluation differentiated by outcome measurement

Concept of analysis	Identification/Measurement of Effects	Scope of the analysis
CMA	Effects are regarded as equivalent	Allows only comparison of interventions whose results are considered equivalent
CEA	Single outcome measured in natural parameters	Allows only the comparison of interventions that target the same natural parameter, inadequate to capture multiple impacts
CUA	Aggregated parameter/utility measure, mostly QALY	Allows the comparison of interventions that target different e.g. health effects, but inadequate for capturing impacts beyond health (or the scope of the specific utility measure)
CCA	Multiple endpoints Disaggregated analysis of costs and different effects	Does not provide unique efficiency ratios, allows and requires decision makers to make their own trade-offs between different effects
CBA	Effects are expressed in monetary units, either a) without subjective elements (by avoided health costs) or b) analysis via monetary valuation e.g. of individual willingness-to-pay for it	a) Allows the comparison of different interventions, but disregard effects that are not covered by monetary measures b) Allows the comparison of different interventions and a wide range of effects by capturing individual preferences, but techniques to capture preferences are dependent on who is being questioned and the monetary valuation of health gains is controversial