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COST EFFECTIVENESS ANALYSIS OF RADON REMEDIATION PROGRAMMES

Christine A. Kennedy 1
Alastair M. Gray 1
1 Health Economics Research Centre, Institute of Health Sciences,
University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7LF, UK

Questions have been raised about the economic implications of the regulations governing radon gas
level identification and remediation in buildings. Attempts to answer the economic questions related
to proposed policy have been varied and criticised for lack of scope and comparability. It is imperative
therefore that a general model for the evaluation of radon remediation programmes is adopted by
participating interests to ensure the comparability and usefulness of ratios in decision making. This
paper presents a general guideline for the use of cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) as an economic
appraisal tool in the evaluation of radon reduction and prevention programmes. The data requirements
for a CEA of radon remediation programmes, include both costs and outcomes. These components are
discussed in the materials and methods with consideration of the following factors: programme
objectives, comparator choice, perspective, time horizon, discounting, uncertainty, and final ratios.
These must be kept in mind at all stages of programme development in order that continuing and
meaningful evaluation of radon remediation programmes will be possible. By evaluating the radon
remediation programme in similar terms with other health interventions (lung cancer prevention
interventions), comparisons can be made based on outcomes and costs per life year gained.
Keywords: radon-induced-lung-cancer, radon-remediation, cost-effectiveness-analysis, cost-effectiveness-
ratio, economic-evaluation, health-intervention, economic-appraisal, regulation-evaluation,
radon-screening, life-years-gained.