Background:

The objective was to evaluate the efficiency (relation between the cost and the results in health) of the treatments in psoriasis, seeking a higher quality of economic evaluations, consistency and transparency in these studies.

Methods:

We developed a model of economic evaluation in psoriasis collecting all the many direct and indirect costs of each treatment. The effectiveness indicator used was Psoriasis Area Severity Index [PASI 75] which is generally acceptable in studies of psoriasis. The effectiveness indicator was a PASI 75. Subsequently we calculated the Incremental Cost-Effectiveness Ratio (ICER) for the period of 12 weeks and PASI 75, ordering treatments by level of effectiveness at the expense of treatment costs.

Results:

The most cost effective treatment was methotrexate (ICER -7.5) followed by acitretin (ICER 29.5). The least cost has proved effective PUVA (ICER 4,651), followed by UVB narrow band (2,886.1).

Conclusions:

When taking into account both direct and indirect costs together with efficiency, methotrexate is the most cost effective treatment.

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