Cost-effectiveness Study of Beclomethasone Versus Ciclesonide as Controller Medications in Pediatric Asthma

Cost-effectiveness study, of cohorts, observational, analytic, prospective, from health institution perspective. Based on published data related to percentage of patients free of crisis for both molecules, it was estimated that the sample size to detect significant differences between the two alternatives was 20 patients per alternative. Medical records of 94 patients with diagnosis of uncontrolled asthma were included, aged between 6 and 15 years, 47 received Beclomethasone randomly, and 47 received Ciclesonide randomly, treatment physician was blind related to this assignation, both cohorts were followed for 6 months, and primary effectiveness variable was defined as number of patients free of crisis with each alternative. Cost generating variables were defined as medication use, and hospital stay. Decision analysis was based on a decision tree.