• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.260-269
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• 2010

Background : Bojungikgitang(BJT) and Banhabaekchulchonmatang(BBT) are known to treat the tinnitus patients, which were registered Korean National Health Insurance coverage lists. Objective : Few studies have evaluated economic benefits of both herbal medicines. This research is to investigate the cost-effectiveness of Bojungikgitang(BJT) and Banhabaekchulchonmatang(BBT) in chronic tinnitus patients over nineteen years old. Method : We built the decision tree model of chronic tinnitus and executed the deterministic analysis and threshold sensitivity analysis based on randomized clinical trial. Effectiveness was measured in quality-adjusted life-years(QALYs), and costs were in 2009 KRW(South Korean Currency). The perspective is societal, time horizon is 10 weeks, and Korean willingness to pay threshold is assumed to 20,000,000KRW. Results : In the base case analysis, BJT treatment resulted is better outcomes as low cost, so BJT is dominant medicine and BBT is dominated. But both cost per QALYs (BJT is 3,120,339KWN per QALY, BBT is 3,505,780KWN per QALY) are lower than the threshold, that could be covered by Korean National Health Insurance(KNHI). Conclusion : This study results showed that BJT was more cost-effective than BBT treating tinnitus patients for 10 weeks, and the cost per QALYs of both alternatives were lower than Korean national threshold.