The evaluation of costs and benefits of preventive interventions [La valutazione dei costi e dei benefici degli interventi di prevenzione]

The Authors, after having analyzed strenghts and limitations of the techniques of economic evaluation in allocating resources in the health care sector, describe the main technical aspects of cost-effectiveness analysis and examine the problem of standardizing methodologies, pointing out the most important methodological issues requiring further research. The debate about the economics of prevention is addressed through a careful analysis of some important contributions of the literature and with some reflections on possible roles and functions of studies concerning the economic appraisal of preventive interventions. The Authors conclude outlining the informational importance of economic evaluations in the decisional processes and foreboding a qualitative and quantitative increase of scientific production in the sector in Italy.