Surgical Management in Older Individuals With SCI

Furlan et al. (2016a) examined the cost effectiveness of older age on surgical intervention for individuals with acute traumatic cervical SCI. This study was conducted from the perspective of the public health care payer in Ontario, Canada. A model was developed to examine the six-month cost and outcomes. Model inputs were obtained from hospital data and publicly available sources. Costs were standardized to 2014 US dollars. Reporting on the total cost per QALY accrued over the six-month period for the older and younger cohorts, it was calculated to be $193,990 per QALY in the older cohort and $94,043 per QALY in the younger cohort. Subtracting the results, the ICER was $5.7 million per QALY. The study’s sensitivity analysis did not result in changes to the results. The authors concluded that surgical and rehabilitative management of older individuals with acute traumatic cervical SCI was costlier and just as effective when compared to younger individuals.