An economic evaluation of the NightWatch for children with refractory epilepsy: insight into the cost-effectiveness and cost-utility

Abstract

Purpose: We performed an economic evaluation, from a societal perspective, to examine the cost-utility and cost-effectiveness of a wearable multimodal seizure detection device: NightWatch. Methods: We collected data between November 2018 and June 2020 from the PROMISE trial (NCT03909984), including children aged 4-16 years with refractory epilepsy living at home. Caregivers completed questionnaires on stress, quality of life, health care consumption and productivity costs after two-month baseline and two-month intervention with NightWatch. We used costs, stress levels and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) to calculate incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs). Missing items were handled by mean imputation. Sensitivity an-alyses were performed to examine the robustness of the results including bootstrap sampling. Results: We included 41 children (44% female; mean age 9.8 years, standard deviation (SD) 3.7 years). Total societal costs of the baseline period (T1) were on average euro 3,238 per patient, whereas after intervention (T2) this reduced to 2,463 (saving euro 775). The QALYs were similar between both periods (mean QALY 0.90 per participant, SD at T1 0.10, SD at T2 0.13). At a ceiling ratio of euro 50.000, NightWatch showed a 72% cost-effective probability. Univariate sensitivity analyses, on the perspective and imputation method, demonstrated result robustness. Conclusion: Our study suggests that NightWatch might be a cost-effective addition to current standard care for children with refractory epilepsy living at home. Further research with an additional target group for a large timeframe may support the findings of this research.