In cost-effectiveness analyses, costs and effectiveness of different decision alternatives are estimated. They can then be presented in the two-dimensional cost-effectiveness plane (Figure 1).

A decision alternative A is called strongly dominated (or dominated) by a different alternative B if the costs and effectiveness of Alternative B are at least as favorable as those of Alternative A:

with strict inequality for either effectiveness or costs. In Figure 1, all alternatives in the light gray top-left area are strongly dominated by Alternative B.

Figure 1 Cost-effectiveness plane

Note: The light gray area is (strongly) dominated by Alternative B. The dark gray area is weakly dominated by Alternatives C and D together.

Decision alternative A is called weakly dominated by two different alternatives C and D if Alternative A is strongly ...