Vassiliki Tsiantou

• PhD, MSc
• Research Associate at National School of Public Health, Athens, Greece

Background: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) affects sufferers' lives and requires everyday efforts to manage its challenges. Aim: The aim of this study was to explore MS patients' lived experience of their "journey" in MS. Method: A qualitative methodology was adopted and semi-structured interviews with 17 MS patients, living in Attica and Thessaly regions...

What is known and objective: Polypharmacy has a significant impact on patients' health with overall expenditure on over-the-counter (OTC) medicines representing a substantial burden in terms of cost of treatment. The aim of this study, which was conducted within the framework of a European Project funded by the European Union under the Seventh Fra...

Purpose: The present study aimed to perform a cost-effectiveness analysis of ingenol mebutate (IM) versus other topical alternatives for the treatment of actinic keratosis (AK). Methods: The analysis used a decision tree to calculate the clinical effects and costs of AK first-line treatments, IM (2-3 days), diclofenac 3% (for 8 or 12 weeks), imi...

Introduction/ Study Objectives: Promoting generics consumption is considered as a key pharmaceutical policy measure. In Greece generics penetration in the pharmaceutical market was historically low and specific measures aiming at increasing generics’ market share were implemented. The aim was to explore perceptions and experiences of physicians and...

The aim of this paper is to explore general practitioners' (GPs) prescribing intentions and patterns across different European regions using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). A cross-sectional study was undertaken in selected geographically defined Primary Health Care areas in Cyprus, Czech Republic (CZ), France, Greece, Malta, Sweden and Turke...

Σκοπός της έρευνας είναι να αναζητήσει δεδομένα αναφορικά με την επιδημιολογία, το κόστος και τη διαχείριση του ΣΔ στην Ελλά- δα με στόχο τη διατύπωση προτάσεων. Πραγματοποιήθηκε αναζήτη- ση με τη χρήση λέξεων-κλειδιών σε ηλεκτρονικές βιβλιογραφικές βά- σεις και στις ιστοσελίδες έγκυρων φορέων και οργανισμών. Oι μελέ- τες αξιολογήθηκαν βάσει συγκεκ...

Irrational prescribing of over-the-counter (OTC) medicines in general practice is common in Southern Europe. Recent findings from a research project funded by the European Commission (FP7), the "OTC SOCIOMED", conducted in seven European countries, indicate that physicians in countries in the Mediterranean Europe region prescribe medicines to a hig...

Prescribing represents an important medical action especially in primary care. However, irrational prescribing is common and has an impact on clinical and economic outcomes. Therefore, there is a growing need to rationalize prescribing. Knowledge of influential factors is crucial for achieving this. The aim of the present study was to identify the...

WHAT IS KNOWN AND OBJECTIVE: Prescribing represents an important medical action especially in primary care. However, irrational prescribing is common and has an impact on clinical and economic outcomes. Therefore, there is a growing need to rationalize prescribing. Knowledge of influential factors is crucial for achieving this. The aim of the prese...

Background: Financial crisis and worsened socio-economic conditions are associated with greater morbidity, less utilization of health services and deteriorated population's health status. The aim of the present study was to investigate the determinants of self-rated health in Greece. Methods: Two national cross-sectional surveys conducted in 200...

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a progressive disease that results in loss of central vision, significant functional impairment, and a subsequent heavy socioeconomic burden. AMD treatments delay disease progression, improve patient outcomes, and reduce resource use associated with visual impairment, however, in a varying way concerning co...

To assess the effects of abolishing coinsurance for oral antihyperglycemic agents (OAAs) on the social insurance fund budget in Greece. A mathematical model estimating the effect of a decrease in patient coinsurance rate on demand for and adherence to OAAs and the subsequent clinical and economic outcomes. Price elasticity of demand for antidiabeti...

The global economic downturn is likely to induce important economic and social changes, affecting mainly the lower socioeconomic classes, reinforcing the presence of social risk factors and consequently disrupting social cohesion and prosperity. The restraint in social expenditure and the increase of social risk factors, bring out the question of t...

A399 811). Other costs included consultations (c54, c63, c64, c58) and examinations (c19, c26, c26, c26). Factors predicting high cost (R 2 = 0.6426) were the number of hospital interventions, treatment switches, disease state changes, current disease state and issues with ocular burning, stinging or aching affecting daily activities. For glaucoma...

Although hypertension constitutes a major risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, research on adherence to antihypertensive treatment has shown that at least 75% of patients are not adherent because of the combined demographic, organizational, psychological, and disease- and medication-related factors. This study aimed to elicit hyp...

The recent financial crisis is one of the biggest in global economy and is hitting the real economy with great force, resulting in economic recession and decrease of employment in all countries around the world. This crisis has different effect in developing countries, and the poorer and more vulnerable population groups. Unemployment and job insec...

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women worldwide and causes great economic burden. The aim of this paper is to present the available clinical and pharmacoeconomic evidence associated with different therapies for breast cancer. As significant progress was made in recent years and there are many alternative treatments, which are indicat...

Public health policy is crucial for the maintenance and the improvement of the population’s health. According to the needs of each historic period the priorities of public health policy vary. The importance of public health interventions, however, is undoubted and has been proven during the centuries. The scarcity of resources is a constraint in th...

The penetration of generic drugs in the Greek pharmaceutical market is placed among the weakest in the EU. The Greek regulatory framework does not systematically support the development of this subsector and physicians are not provided with incentives for prescribing generics. The aim of this study was to investigate the prescribing profile of phys...

Over the past few decades, drug and overall healthcare expenditure have risen rapidly in most countries. The present study investigates the attitudes and the factors which influence physician prescribing decisions and practice in Greece and Cyprus. A postal questionnaire was developed by researchers at the Department of Health Economics at the Nati...

Greece is among the OECD countries with the highest healthcare spending as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (9.1% of GDP in 2006). Despite this, several issues such as high private health expenditure, informal payments, implementation of Electronic Patient Records and an integrated primary healthcare system have not been solved since the esta...

The pandemic of influenza A (H1N1) is a major public health problem and has resulted in the mobilization of all organizations and services both in national and international level in order to mitigate the pandemic. The aim of this paper is to estimate the impact of this pandemic on the medical care and socioeconomic life through a literature review...

Health care costs have increased in the last years. At the same time, interest for the choice of the most efficient intervention has also increased. Decision makers seek the most efficient way to allocate scarce resources among different interventions. Economic evaluation has proved an important tool in making such choices. The objective of this st...

In Greece, unlimited access to all health care services offered by insurance carriers and the National Health System has brought about an absurd situation, with use of technologically advanced services in managing even minor health problems. With their focus on highly technical care, the involvement of physicians and nursing staff in disease preven...

Background: Vaccines are one of the most important tools for the primary prevention of infectious diseases. Decisions on the inclusion of new vaccines in the National Immunization Schedule need to address competing priorities, which stem from the lack of health care resources and the growing health care needs of the population. The objective of thi...