Constructing confidence intervals around incremental cost effectiveness ratios (ICER's) in healthcare evaluations: a review

Health care economic evaluation is an analytical tool used with increasing frequency to assist decision making in the health care system. In particular, considerable effort has been expended in recent years in the development of methodology guidelines for economic evaluation of pharmaceutical products. The objective of this paper is to analyse the different methods - parametric and non parametric - of confidence intervals construction in cost effectiveness stochastic evaluations. The aim is to focus on the strengths and the weakness of each method in order to facilitate the tasks of those who must base their choices on studies of this kind.