Please note: there may be some adjustments to the teaching arrangements published in the course catalogue for 2020-21. Given current circumstances related to the Covid-19 pandemic it is anticipated that some usual arrangements for teaching on campus will be modified to ensure the safety and wellbeing of students and staff on campus; further adjustments may also be necessary, or beneficial, during the course of the academic year as national requirements relating to management of the pandemic are revised.

Maximising the Value of Clinical Trial Data: Analysis for Economic Evaluation and Modelling MED5374

  • Academic Session: 2022-23
  • School: School of Health and Wellbeing
  • Credits: 20
  • Level: Level 5 (SCQF level 11)
  • Typically Offered: Semester 1
  • Available to Visiting Students: Yes
  • Available to Erasmus Students: Yes
  • Taught Wholly by Distance Learning: Yes

Short Description

This course will teach the methods of how to analyse and evaluate economic data from a clinical trial (what data to collect, how to value cost and effect, how to analyse the data and estimate cost-effectiveness).

Timetable

10 week online course comprising 10 lectures and 10 accompanying practical exercises.

Requirements of Entry

None

Excluded Courses

None

Co-requisites

None

Assessment

Written Assignment/Coursework - Students will be given data sets and a series of research questions, which they will need to answer by applying methods from the course and write up as a report (2000 words).

Course Aims

This course aims to equip students with the necessary skills so they can carry out a full economic evaluation of an intervention(s) in a clinical trial setting.

Intended Learning Outcomes of Course

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Critically assess the steps in conducting an economic evaluation alongside a clinical trial

■ Recognise and critically discuss the difference between a within-trial analysis (short term economic impacts that are observed) and a longer term analysis (longer term economic impacts that are typically only partially observed)

■ Create, interpret and critically discuss ouput from analysing costs using models from the family of generalised linear models

■ Create and interpret model diagnostics to determine best fitting generalised linear models

■ Create, interpret and critically discuss output from analysing treatment effects using parametric survival modelling

■ Create and interpret cost-effectiveness estimates, net benefit estimates and the uncertainty that surrounds these estimates

■ Critically discuss the key issues with extrapolating costs and effects beyond the follow-up of clinical trials

■ Critically assess the methods of generalised linear models and parametric survival models to carry out an economic evaluation beyond observed follow-up

■ Recognise and critically discuss heterogeneity in cost-effectiveness estimates from clinical trials and how statistical modelling can be used to perform subgroup analyses

Minimum Requirement for Award of Credits

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.