“Prevention, prevention, prevention” – the rallying call from Sandra Gallina, Director General of DG SANTE at the European Commission, set the scene for the core theme that ran through the 10th Politico Health Care Summit in Brussels, on 18th and 19th November. The scale of the challenge The non-communicable disease (NCD) burden across Europe is […]
The Movember Institute of Men’s Health has just released a new report, “The Real Face of Men’s Health”, examining the state of men’s health in Canada,
In 2023, five conditions – coronary heart disease (CHD), colorectal cancer, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and suicide – were responsible for the greatest number of years of life lost to ill health among Canadian men.
HealthLumen was commissioned to carry out the health economic modelling for this report. Our modelling showed that if all preventable cases of these five conditions had been avoided in men in 2023, Canada could have saved $12.4 billion CAD.
In 2024, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) account for approximately 75% of all deaths worldwide.
For pharmaceutical and biotech companies working in CVRMs, understanding future disease burden is essential to long-term strategy in order to inform decisions regarding where, when and how to invest resources for maximum impact of return. This is important when developing therapeutic interventions, but also for identifying where those interventions can have the greatest impact, and for making the case to act sooner.
In this context, epidemiological modelling is playing a growing role in evidence generation.
Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) affects more than 10% of the population worldwide and is often associated with other conditions such as diabetes and hypertension. However, rare kidney diseases, although individually rare, collectively exert a notable impact on kidney health – accounting for an estimated 5–10% of CKD cases.
Despite their impact, rare kidney diseases often remain underdiagnosed and under-recognised within CKD care and policy frameworks. This raises critical questions: Why do so many rare kidney conditions go undiagnosed? Could rare kidney diseases account for more CKD cases than previously thought? And what would earlier diagnosis and targeted intervention mean for patients, health systems, and payers? This article aims to address these questions.
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a major global health issue – affecting an estimated 1 in 10 people – yet it is frequently overlooked on health agendas worldwide. In its early stages, CKD is often asymptomatic, and many individuals are unaware that they have CKD until the disease has progressed to later stages, where it becomes harder and more costly to treat – with patients facing the prospect of dialysis or kidney transplant. This makes early CKD detection critical to improving patient outcomes and reducing the growing health and economic burden of CKD worldwide. Recognising this, the World Kidney Day campaign this year is centred around the theme: “Detect early, protect kidney health.”
Addressing growing rates of obesity and its increasing strain on healthcare systems has become a key focus for many public health strategies around the globe. As part of the evolving landscape of obesity interventions, GLP-1 receptor agonists (commonly referred to as GLP-1 agonists) have emerged as a promising pharmacological solution. But how effective are GLP-1 agonists as part of a broader public health obesity strategy?
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, drinking habits shifted significantly for many. But what happens when those pandemic-era drinking habits stick around? Recent research from HealthLumen explores the long-term consequences of changes in alcohol consumption during the pandemic, and the findings are stark: if those patterns continue until the end of 2035, England could face nearly 10,000 additional premature deaths, over 147,000 excess cases of disease, and £1.2 billion extra in healthcare costs.
Earlier diagnosis can make all the difference for individuals with genetic diseases. Delayed diagnosis hinders timely disease management and treatment access, meaning that progression to late-stage disease can occur more rapidly, likely leading to a significant increase in the health and economic burden of these conditions for patients, their families, and healthcare systems. Screening programs aim to identify individuals with genetic conditions earlier, with cascade screening in particular providing one way to help transform outcomes for patients.
As part of AstraZeneca’s Accelerate Change Together (ACT) on CKD programme to drive chronic kidney disease (CKD) change across the healthcare ecosystem, the Inside CKD project stream projected the clinical and economic burden of CKD from 2022 to 2027 across 31 countries and regions. The results have recently been compiled into a comprehensive portal on the Inside CKD website.
“Genomics requires a form of modelling that can capture individual genetic differences and responses to therapy – a purpose to which microsimulation is eminently suited.”
This quote, from a seminal review paper by Professors Deborah Schofield and Rupendra Shrestha of Macquarie University, pioneers in applying microsimulation techniques for modelling the costs and benefits of genomic medicine, formed the basis for a fascinating recent discussion with the HealthLumen team, on the role of microsimulation modelling techniques in precision medicine.
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