Zsa Zsa Weerts

Cost-effectiveness of peppermint oil in IBS 203 8 effectiveness study we only compared to peppermint oil to placebo. A valid comparison to other treatments such as the low-FODMAP diet or cognitive behavioral therapy would require a model-based study. Sixth, patients were relatively young, female, and predominantly white. In addition, half of the population was recruited from primary care. Results may therefore not reflect cost-effectiveness in other populations. Nevertheless, the patient inclusion led to a population highly representative for IBS patients seeking treatment in daily routine clinical practice. Thereby our results are applicable to everyday practice and informative for both healthcare policy makers and providers. In summary, treatment of IBS with small-intestinal release peppermint oil appears to be cost-effective, both from a societal and healthcare perspective, although there is uncertainty surrounding the ICER. When using abdominal pain responder instead of QALY as an outcome measure, peppermint oil has a very high probability of being cost- effective. The use of peppermint oil, which is a low-cost treatment, can be justified by the modest QALY gains and the slightly higher proportion of abdominal pain responders. More research and long-term data are necessary to confirm the cost- effectiveness of peppermint oil.