Analytical approach:
A decision analytic model was developed to estimate the outcomes associated with reduced antibiotic use. Some of the details for the model were presented in an accompanying paper, but these are not included or critique here. The time horizon was not explicitly reported, but the author has subsequently informed us that the time horizon for the model was one year, and the time horizon for antibiotic resistance included in the guidelines infinite. The authors stated the perspective was parental.
Effectiveness data:
The effectiveness data were derived from a previous study, in which the current author was involved and which was published in the journal alongside this publication. The main clinical parameters were antibiotic use, adverse drug events and adverse drug event deaths.
Monetary benefit and utility valuations:
The quality of life estimates were obtained from published studies, one of which used the standard gamble technique to estimate the parental utilities.
Measure of benefit:
The measure of benefit was quality-adjusted life-days (QALDs) gained.
Cost data:
The cost estimates were not developed in this analysis, but were taken from the accompanying study. The cost analysis included the cost of parents' time. All costs were reported in US dollars ($) and all, including sick days, hospitalisations and dollar costs, were converted into QALDs lost. This conversion was performed using a willingness to pay threshold of $100,000 per QALY for the base case. Cost values used were presented in full.
Analysis of uncertainty:
A one-way sensitivity analysis was performed on some of the model inputs.