A form of economic evaluation in which the results are expressed as a ratio of cost per unit of health outcome, the latter is normally being expressed in ‘natural units’ (eg, mm Hg change in blood pressure, symptom free days).

In the context of pharmacoeconomics, the cost-effectiveness of a therapeutic or preventive mediation is the ratio of the cost of the intervention to a appropriate measure of its effect. Cost refers to the resource exhausted for the intervention, generally measured in monetary terms. The measure of effects is reliant on the intervention being examined.

See also:
Cost–benefit analysis
Cost consequences analysis (CCA)
Cost-effectiveness league table (healthcare economics)
Cost-effectiveness threshold (health economics)
Cost-minimisation analysis (CMA)