Abstract:
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a group of deficits in social interaction and social communication (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). The result of a study in Thailand found that ASD patients with less self-reliance increased the number of caregivers, indirect costs and total costs (Naruemol Junsamut, 2014). Risperidone and aripiprazole showed the effectiveness for treating irritability/disruptive behavior in ASD (LeClerc & Easley, 2015). The objective of this research was to estimate the cost-effectiveness of aripiprazole compared with risperidone for treating ASD patient. Seven studies were selected to analyze the outcomes of effectiveness utilizing network meta-analysis. The number of improving symptoms that was evaluated via Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC), and the lower score is the better. Result of this study revealed that average ABC-I scores of risperidone group were considerably lower than aripiprazole group (mean difference 0.41). Given both active agents were compared, there was no statistical significance reached in the network meta-analysis (95%CI: -5.53, 6.36). The results of unit cost analysis were presented the cost per 1 decreasing ABC-I score of risperidone by provider perspective was 981.04 Baht and aripiprazole was 423.54 Baht. As a result of cost-effectiveness ratio, it was clear that in the risperidone group, the provider was responsible more for the cost of treatment.
