Grant: Project Grant

RATIONALE: Falls have a substantial impact on the quality of life, morbidity, and mortality of older adults, and are costly for our healthcare system. Many falls prevention interventions have proven to be effective. With constrained healthcare resources, the most effective intervention is not always cost-effective, and we are often faced with determining whether an intervention is truly worth the resources it requires. Therefore, in addition to answering the question "does the intervention work?", decision- and policy-makers must also answer the 'value for money' question, "is it cost-effective?". OBJECTIVE: Members of our team previously conducted a systematic review and network meta-analysis on falls prevention interventions. This project will examine the cost-effectiveness of effective falls prevention interventions identified through our previous work. Our findings will help identify falls prevention interventions that are not only effective but also cost-effective. METHODS: We will develop a health economics model to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of each falls prevention intervention from the perspective of public healthcare payers, using data from our previous work and published literature. We will explore factors that influence the interventions' cost-effectiveness and conduct subgroup analyses by factors such as history of falls. IMPACT: Information on the cost-effectiveness of falls prevention interventions will assist policy-makers to make informed decisions on which intervention they should fund and implement. Our findings will provide evidence on both the value for money and budget impact of falls prevention interventions to decision-makers who fund these interventions and to those who are considering their implementation, namely our colleagues from Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto, Alberta Health Services, the Regional Geriatrics Program of Toronto, Osteoporosis Canada, and the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.