What does it cost to prevent a stroke?
There was a reduction in all cause stroke from 1.57% / year for Warfarin to 1.01% / year for dabigatran, a 0.56% / year reduction. You would need to treat 179 patients with dabigatran to prevent one stroke. This would incur an incremental cost of 179 x $1,123, or $200,535. On the other hand, the lifetime cost of all cause stroke is estimated by the CDC to be $100,000. The net total cost would therefore be $100,535. Patients with stroke have a 2.3 fold higher mortality, so survival was estimated to be 13.5 / 2.3 = 5.8 years. That’s $17,333 per year of stroke-free life saved. </s>