Analytical approach:
A Markov decision model was constructed to combine data from published studies. The cycle length was one day and the time horizon was one year, at which point the model had reached a steady state. The authors stated that a societal perspective was taken.
Effectiveness data:
The effectiveness data were from a systematic review of the literature in PubMed and this was conducted by two independent reviewers. The main clinical effectiveness estimates were the rates of hypocalcaemia, with each strategy.
Monetary benefit and utility valuations:
The utility values were identified by the systematic review of the literature.
Measure of benefit:
The measure of benefit was quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs). The benefits were discounted at an annual rate of 3%.
Cost data:
The main cost categories were the drug costs and the hospitalisation costs. These costs were from the 2010 Medicare Reimbursement Schedule and the Red Book of pharmaceutical prices. The resource use was from several published sources. All costs were in US dollars ($) for 2010 and an annual discount rate of 3% was applied.
Analysis of uncertainty:
One-way sensitivity analyses were performed to test the impact of uncertainty around the inputs. These were varied within reasonable ranges found in the literature review or by ±10% of the base-case estimate, if no range of data was available. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis, using Monte Carlo simulation, was performed to simultaneously test the uncertainty in all the inputs.