Cost-Effectiveness of Primary Prevention with Statin Treatment for Chinese Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

Introduction Statins can reduce the risk of cardiovascular events in patients with diabetes. The objective of this analysis was to evaluate whether primary prevention with statin treatment is cost-effective for newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients in the Chinese context. Methods An economic analysis of primary prevention with statin treatment was conducted using the Chinese Outcomes Model for T2DM with a time horizon of a lifetime, which was developed and validated based on the Chinese population. Clinical costs and utility inputs were gathered from published sources. Lifetime discounted quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), costs, and the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) were measured. The uncertainty was evaluated by one-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses. Results Statin treatment with atorvastatin 10 mg could add 0.08 QALYs with an additional $1676 compared with that of no statin management (control strategy) over a lifetime horizon, which led to an ICER of $21,924 per QALY gained. At a willingness-to-pay threshold of $27,351 per QALY gained, there was an approximately 80% probability of statin treatment being cost-effective compared with the control strategy. The model outcomes were most sensitive to the length of the expected life and age at the T2DM diagnosis. Conclusions Statin treatment with atorvastatin is most likely cost-effective for primary prevention in Chinese patients newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Funding Partially funded by Pfizer Inc.