Table 1 Definitions used to categorise included studies
Study design | |
 prospective cost study | cost study informed by data gathered from a prospective cohort of patients |
 retrospective cost study | cost study informed by data collected from a retrospective cohort of patients, e.g. medical records, case notes |
 database analysis | analysis of patient records from an already existing database, e.g. health insurance claims, hospital reimbursements |
 mathematical model | mathematical model (+/− simulation) extrapolating primary data to produce original estimates beyond their original scope e.g. time and location |
 survey | cross-sectional study of patients +/− controls |
 COI study | cost-of-illness study evaluating the region or country-level economic consequences that the presence of disease and its outcomes exert on individuals and society as a whole |
Study scope | |
 Institutional | Study conducted in one or more health care facilities, with no specified geographical scope below national level and no evidence of a sampling procedure to ensure representativeness |
 City | Study conducted in health care facilities in a specified city |
 Regional | Study conducted in health care facilities in a specified sub-national administrative unit (e.g. region, province, state) |
 National | Study conducted at the national level, either through representative sampling of health care facilities or through modelling |
 International | Multi-country study |
 Other | Other than above or multiple categories |
Economic perspective | |
 Patient | Study reporting direct costs incurred only by patients (e.g. out-of-pocket payments) |
 Provider | Study reporting costs incurred by the health care provider (e.g. average unit cost of an inpatient day) |
 Third-party payer | Study reporting costs incurred at the level of a third-party payer (e.g. insurance fund, Ministry of Health vertical programme) |
 Societal | Study reporting some form of indirect cost, incurred at any level (e.g. value of lost productivity due to illness, effect of CVD on national income) |
 Other | Other perspectives (e.g. pharmaceutical sector) or multiple perspectives (e.g. patient and provider) |
 Unclear | Could not be determined based on the information provided |