Cost-Effectiveness in Knee Osteoarthritis Management
Summary
Knee osteoarthritis imposes a substantial clinical and economic burden worldwide, driven by ageing populations and rising obesity rates. Cost-effectiveness analysis has become central to guiding clinical decision-making and policy, comparing interventions by balancing costs against health outcomes expressed in quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). Evaluations span non-pharmacological measures such as exercise and education, pharmacological treatments including non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and selective cyclo-oxygenase-2 inhibitors, intra-articular injections, and surgical procedures. Decision-analytic models—often employing Markov chains or Monte Carlo simulations—project long-term trajectories of disease progression, adverse events and resource use. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) inform thresholds for willingness to pay, which vary by health system and economic context. Recent work has integrated patient subgroups, co-morbidities and real-world data to refine estimates, emphasising the need for tailored strategies in diverse populations. The global significance of these analyses lies in optimising resource allocation, improving patient quality of life and shaping reimbursement policies in both high-income and emerging economies.
Research from Nature Portfolio
No recent Nature Portfolio content available.
Cost-Effectiveness in Knee Osteoarthritis Management publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in cost-effectiveness in knee osteoarthritis management across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Quality-adjusted life year (QALY): A composite measure of disease burden that combines length of life with quality-of-life weights, facilitating comparison across interventions.
Incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER): The additional cost per additional unit of health benefit (often per QALY gained) when comparing two interventions.
Monte Carlo simulation: A computational technique that uses repeated random sampling to model the probabilistic progression of disease states and uncertainty in parameters.
Willingness-to-pay threshold: The maximum cost that a health system or society is prepared to accept for one additional QALY gained, guiding reimbursement decisions.
References
- The cost-effectiveness of celecoxib versus non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs plus proton-pump inhibitors in the treatment of osteoarthritis in Saudi Arabia. Health Economics Review (2015).
- Cost-effectiveness analysis for joint pain treatment in patients with osteoarthritis treated at the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS): Comparison of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) vs. cyclooxygenase-2 selective inhibitors. Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation (2008).
- The quality-of-life burden of knee osteoarthritis in New Zealand adults: A model-based evaluation. PLOS ONE (2017).
About these summaries
This Nature Research Intelligence Topic summary is created with the cited references and a large language model. We take care to ground generated text with facts, and have systems in place to gain human feedback on the overall quality of the process in line with our AI principles. We strive to create accurate and useful summaries for people unfamiliar with the research topic and that supports this goal. These pages are a beta release and will be updated as we learn how best to help people gain value from a research topic summary.
Turn complex research questions into confident strategic decisions
When you're under pressure to set direction, justify investment, or understand your competitive position, you need more than raw data — you need trusted insights you can act on.
Benchmark your performance against global peers using robust, methodologically sound analysis.
Combine quantitative metrics with qualitative expert insight to uncover strengths, gaps and emerging opportunities.
Gain tailored, decision-ready recommendations aligned to your strategic priorities.
Talk to us to learn more about our data dashboards and bespoke strategy reports.
Grow research skills, confidence and careers with training built for every stage of the research lifecycle.
Developed with Nature Portfolio journal Editors and internationally renowned experts. Discover three ways to learn:
Self-paced, online courses in convenient bite-sized units, covering key skills across scientific writing, publishing, grant writing, data analysis, and more.
Expert trainer-led workshops with hands-on exercises and real-time feedback across core research skills, delivered via interactive group sessions.
Editor-led workshops combining core principles in writing and publishing, personalised 1:1 feedback from Nature Portfolio Editors and hands-on exercises.
Explore course catalogues and workshop agendas, enquire about the options or request institutional pricing.