BMC Public Health — Wang J, Bravatti MAL, Johnson EJ, et al. | April 28, 2020
From the US healthcare sector perspective, the cost-effectiveness of almond intake (42.5 g) in cardiovascular disease primary prevention was evaluated in this study. Researchers constructed a decision model for 42.5 g of almond per day vs no almond intake and cardiovascular disease in the US population, for which they derived parameters from the literature. The cost of almonds was based on the current price in the US market. In the base-case model, $363 lower cost and 0.02 higher quality-adjusted life years gain were evident for the almond strategy vs the non-almond strategy. Almond consumption vs no almond consumption afforded $1421 higher annual net monetary benefit per person, when the willingness to pay threshold was set at $50,000 for annual health care cost. In all the sensitivity analyses, a greater cost-effectiveness of almond in cardiovascular disease prevention was evident, compared with non-almond. Overall, consuming 42.5 g of almonds per day was concluded as a cost-effective strategy for cardiovascular disease prevention in the short term as well as potentially in the long term.