Misc

Correction to: Hypertension Research https://doi.org/10.1038/s41440-025-02462-y, published online 01 January 2026 In the original version of this article, the author list was incorrectly located in the article body. The original article has been corrected.

Dementia management has evolved with drugs such as lecanemab, shifting management from palliative care to early diagnosis and intervention. However, the administration of these drugs presents challenges owing to the invasiveness, high cost and limited availability of amyloid-PET and cerebrospinal fluid tests for guiding drug administration. Our manuscript explores the potential of less invasive blood biomarkers as a diagnostic method, with a cost-effectiveness analysis and a comparison with traditional tests. Our findings suggest that blood biomarkers are a cost-effective alternative, but with lower accuracy, indicating the need for multiple specific biomarkers for precision. This underscores the importance of future research on new blood biomarkers and their clinical efficacy.

●医療技術評価(HTA)は、効果だけでなく費用や人々の選好などを評価・考慮政策上の意思決定をする過程をさす。●医療分野では、価値の測定を金銭で表す便益を用いるだけではなく、健康状態をもとにした指標を使用する場合が多い。●HTAの目的は、医療サービスの資源配分を考えることにある。●資源配分の議論には、経済学で重要な効率性という観点に加え、公平性などそのほかの観点について価値判断が必要となる。(著者抄録)

●疾病の診断や病態の把握のために広く用いられる検査は、理想的なものであれば疾患や重症者などを完全に区別することができる。●しかし、ほとんどの検査では、完全に疾患群と非疾患群を区別することができない。●検査の性能に関する知識を知ることは、不必要な検査による医療資源の浪費や検査結果の解釈の誤りなどを防止するためにも重要である。●本稿では、検査診断の特質を示すいくつかの重要な概念について解説する。(著者抄録)

The use of quality-adjusted life year (QALY) as a measure of benefit is recommended in economic evaluation, which aims to provide evidence for the appropriate allocation of health care resources. This allows for an easier comparison of interventions' effects in different fields. A QALY value is calculated by weighting the life years (LYs) by the quality of life (QOL) score, which is determined by preference-based measure (PBM) and converted from 0 to 1. The QOL score should be obtained through domestic surveys because it reflects the value in the country's general population. In Japan, the data of the QOL scores for adults have been accumulated in recent years. However, few studies for children have been conducted due to various issues in evaluating pediatric health-related QOL (HRQOL). The PBM process for obtaining the QOL score can be divided into “measurement” and “valuation” of the health state to be evaluated. This process is implemented at once in direct methods, whereas it is carried out separately in indirect methods. Direct methods include the rating scale, the time trade-off, and the standard gamble, but children's feasibility, reliability, and validity must be thoroughly investigated. In indirect methods, which is currently the mainstream in general, multi-attribute utility instruments (MAUIs) are used, consisting of a questionnaire to measure the health state and a value set to value the measured health state. However, most MAUIs are designed for adult use and are not suitable for pediatric use because the questions are inappropriate, and the value set is intended to value adult health. In recent years, some MAUIs for pediatric use have been developed. Nevertheless, due to translations and the value set, these are not available in all countries. Additionally, there are no existing MAUIs available for children aged 3 years. Furthermore, issues concerning “measurement,” such as which domains should be assessed and how, and by whom, and issues concerning “valuation,” such as whose preferences should be reflected in developing the value set, and which perspectives should be used, remain. There have been no MAUIs for pediatric use in Japan, but the Japanese version of the EuroQol 5-dimension Youth version (EQ-5D-Y) and its value set have recently been published. It is necessary to fully understand the challenges and limitations in measuring and interpreting the QOL score in children.