ORLANDO, Fla. — A cost-utility comparison between the C-Leg and a variety of mechanical knees showed a mobility benefit for use of the C-Leg in amputees aged 40 years and older, according to a speaker, here.
Co-author Andrea Giovanni Cutti, Meng, PhD, of the INAIL Prostheses Centre, Italy, presented the study, one of four Thranhardt Lecture finalists, at the O&P World Congress.
Researchers administered the EQ-5D questionnaire to 70 C-Leg (Ottobock, Minneapolis, Minn.) users and 57 users of mechanical knees, who were asked about their mobility, self care, usual activity, pain or discomfort and anxiety or depression. They also noted age at time of enrollment, experience with current prosthesis, and age at time of first prosthesis use.
Andrea Giovanni Cutti
“These are the three factors, stratified, that you want to consider to better understand cost utility,” Cutti said.
Using a quality-adjusted life year analysis, researchers found that over 5 years, “C-Leg users gain 6 months of life in perfect health,” Cutti said.
However, after performing a cost-utility analysis to stratify the results, researchers found enhanced improvement in mobility in C-Leg users older than 40 years but also found social and psychophysical barriers to its use in this age group, particularly if they were older when they first wore prosthesis.
“Overall it is cost useful, but if you look at age of first prosthesis, cost utility changes,” Cutti said, noting that cost utility helps to identify potential social and psychophysical barriers that inhibit C-Leg utility.
“C-Leg is cost effective; however, stratification appears to be essential because people over 40 years of age with first prosthesis deserve specific interventions,” Cutti said.
For more information:
Cutti A. Stratified cost-utility analysis of C-Leg vs. mechanical knee prostheses: Findings from a retrospective study on 127 transfemoral amputees. Presented at: O&P World Congress. Sept. 18-21, 2013. Orlando, Fla.
Disclosure: Cutti reported no relevant financial disclosures.
