Differences in pooled means costs and effects, ICERs and the distribution of incremental cost-effectiveness pairs around the quadrants of the CE planes (main analysis)
| Outcome | ∆ Cost* (€) mean (95% CI) | ∆ Effect* (days) mean (95% CI) | ICER €/day | Distribution CE plane | |||
| NE† (%) | SE‡ (%) | SW§ (%) | NW¶ (%) | ||||
| RTW | −228 (−708 to 136) | 4.1** (−2.6 to 10.8) | −56 | 15 | 69 | 10 | 6 |
| QALYs gained | −647 (−2116 to 735) | −0.001 (−0.023 to 0.020) | 501 187 | 4 | 42 | 35 | 19 |
| HR-QoL (SF-36) | |||||||
| PCS | −647 (−2116 to 735) | −0.7 (−2.6 to 1.1) | 870 | 6 | 19 | 58 | 17 |
| MCS | −647 (−2116 to 735) | −0.4 (−2.5 to 1.7) | 1573 | 10 | 33 | 44 | 13 |
| Recovery (RI-10) | −647 (−2116 to 735) | −0.6 (−2.0 to 0.9) | 1127 | 5 | 22 | 55 | 18 |
*Uncertainty estimated using bootstrapping and corrected for clustering by hospital and type of surgery.
†Refers to the north-east quadrant of the CE plane, indicating that the intervention care programme is more effective and more costly than usual care.
‡Refers to the south-east quadrant of the CE plane, indicating that the intervention care programme is more effective and less costly than usual care.
§Refers to the south-west quadrant of the CE plane, indicating that the intervention care programme is less effective and less costly than usual care.
¶Refers to the north-east quadrant of the CE plane, indicating that the intervention care programme is less effective and more costly than usual care.
**Note that a positive value indicates faster RTW in the intervention group compared with the control group.
CE, cost-effectiveness; HR-QoL, health-related quality of life; ICER, incremental cost-effectiveness ratio; MCS, mental component scale; PCS, physical component scale; QALY, quality-adjusted life year; RI, recovery index; RTW, return to work; SF, short form.