Economic evaluation of environmental epidemiological projects in national industrial complexes

In this economic evaluation of environmental epidemiological monitoring projects, we analyzed the economic feasibility of these projects by determining the social cost and benefit of these projects and conducting a cost/benefit analysis. Here, the social cost was evaluated by converting annual budgets for these research and survey projects into present values. Meanwhile, the societal benefit of these projects was evaluated by using the contingent valuation method to estimate the willingness-to-pay of residents living in or near industrial complexes. In addition, the extent to which these projects reduced negative health effects (i.e., excess disease and premature death) was evaluated through expert surveys, and the analysis was conducted to reflect the unit of economic value, based on the cost of illness and benefit transfer method. The results were then used to calculate the benefit of these projects in terms of the decrease in negative health effects. For residents living near industrial complexes, the benefit/cost ratio was 1.44 in the analysis based on resident surveys and 5.17 in the analysis based on expert surveys. Thus, whichever method was used for the economic analysis, the economic feasibility of these projects was confirmed.

Early Improvement in One Week Predicts the Treatment Response to Escitalopram in Patients with Social Anxiety Disorder: A Preliminary Study

OBJECTIVE: Social anxiety disorder (SAD) shows relatively delayed responses to pharmacotherapy when compared to other anxiety disorders. Therefore, more effective early therapeutic decisions can be made if the therapeutic response is predictable as early as possible. We studied whether the therapeutic response at 12 weeks is predictable based on the early improvement with escitalopram at 1 week. METHODS: The subjects were 28 outpatients diagnosed with SAD. The subjects took 10-20 mg/day of escitalopram. The results of the Liebowitz social anxiety scale (LSAS), Hamilton anxiety rating scale, and Montgomery-Asberg depression rating scale were evaluated at 0, 1, 4, 8, and 12 weeks of treatment. Early improvement was defined as a ≥10% reduction in the LSAS total at 1 week of treatment, and endpoint response was defined as a ≥35% reduction in the LSAS total score. The correlation between clinical characteristics and therapeutic responses was analyzed by simple linear regression. The correlation between early improvement responses and endpoint responses was analyzed by multivariate logistic regression analysis and receiver operating characteristic curves. RESULTS: When we adjusted the influence of a ≥35% reduction in the LSAS total endpoint score on a ≥10% reduction of the LSAS total score at 1 week of treatment for the patients' age, the early improvement group at 1 week of treatment was expected to show stronger endpoint responses compared to the group with no early improvement. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that a ≥10% reduction in the LSAS total score in a week can predict endpoint treatment response.