Dictionary

T

Timed Up and Go TestConceptTUG, TUGT, Timed Up & Go

Timed Up and Go Test (TUG) is a performance outcome timing how long a person takes to rise, walk 3 metres, turn and sit, used for mobility and falls risk.

Timely AccessTermPrompt Access, Timeliness of Care

A healthcare access dimension concerning whether patients can obtain needed care within a clinically appropriate timeframe, including wait times.

Tipping Point AnalysisTermTipping-Point Method, Switch-Point Analysis

A missing data sensitivity technique searching for the specific departure from a standard assumption that would be needed to overturn a study's conclusion.

TitrationTermDose Adjustment, Dose Ramping

The process of gradually adjusting a medication's dose, usually starting low and increasing, to balance therapeutic effect against tolerability.

TLVTermDental and Pharmaceutical Benefits Agency, Swedish Benefits Agency

The Swedish Dental and Pharmaceutical Benefits Agency, determining which pharmaceuticals and dental services are subsidised based on cost-effectiveness assessment.

Tobacco Control EconomicsTermEconomics of Tobacco Control, Smoking Control Economics, Smoking Cessation Economics, Economics of Smoking Cessation, Quit-Smoking Economics

The application of health economic evaluation to population-level tobacco policies, including taxation, advertising restrictions, and public smoking bans.

Tobacco PolicyTermTobacco Control Policy, Anti-Smoking Policy

Government policy aimed at reducing tobacco use, covering taxation, advertising restrictions, public smoking bans, and cessation programme funding.

Tobacco Use PrevalenceTermSmoking Prevalence, Tobacco Prevalence

A measure of the proportion of a population currently using tobacco products, a leading modifiable chronic disease risk factor.

ToleranceTermDrug Habituation, Reduced Drug Response

A regression diagnostic, one minus a predictor's coefficient of determination against all other predictors, detecting multicollinearity, lower values meaning more collinearity.

Tolerance IntervalConceptCoverage Interval, Population Coverage Bound

An interval calculated to contain a specified proportion of an entire population's values with a given confidence, unlike a confidence or prediction interval.

Top-Down Cost-of-IllnessTermAggregate Cost-of-Illness

A cost-of-illness study estimating disease-specific cost by apportioning a share of national or aggregate expenditure statistics to a particular condition.

Top-Down CostingConceptMacro-Costing, Top-Level Costing, Aggregate Cost Estimation, Top-Down Cost Estimation

A costing approach that starts with aggregate costs and allocates them to services, activities or patients using documented shares and output counts.

Topic IdentificationTermTopic Scanning, Candidate Identification

The initial process by which an assessment body identifies technologies or questions that may warrant formal assessment, from various sources.

Topic NominationTermTopic Proposal, Assessment Nomination

A formal proposal submitted suggesting that a specific technology or clinical question be selected for formal assessment.

Topic PrioritisationTermTopic Ranking, Assessment Prioritisation

The process of ranking candidate assessment topics by criteria such as clinical importance and budget impact, given limited assessment capacity.

Topic SelectionTermAssessment Selection, Topic Decision

The formal decision on which candidate technologies or questions will proceed to a full assessment, following identification and prioritisation.

Topical AdministrationTermTopical Application, Local Administration

A route of drug administration applying medication directly to the skin or another surface for local effect, common in dermatological conditions.

Tornado DiagramConceptTornado Plot, Tornado Chart

A horizontal bar chart displaying one-way sensitivity analysis results, bars ranked from largest to smallest range, resembling a tornado shape.

Total CostTermAggregate Cost, Total Expenditure

The sum of all costs, fixed and variable, incurred in producing a given level of output.

Total Cost of CareTermTCOC, Total Care Cost

A comprehensive measure of all healthcare spending associated with a defined population over a period, across all settings and providers.

Total Effect IndexConceptTotal Sobol Index, Total-Order Index

A variance-based sensitivity measure quantifying an input's total contribution to output variance, including its individual effect and all interactions with other inputs.

Total Quality ManagementTermTQM, Organisation-Wide Quality Management

A comprehensive organisational philosophy emphasising continuous improvement, customer focus, and employee engagement in identifying and addressing quality problems.

Toxicity Period (TOX)ConceptTOX, Time with Toxicity, Q-TWiST Toxicity State

Toxicity period (TOX) is the Q-TWiST state for time with the treatment toxicity an analysis counts, often grade 3 or worse, weighted by its own utility.

Toxicology StudiesTermToxicology Testing, Preclinical Toxicology

Research, typically in laboratory and animal models, characterising a drug candidate's potential harmful effects at various doses before human testing.

Trace ValidationTermTrace Checking, Patient-Path Checking

The review of a Markov model's cohort trace, the proportion of a modelled population in each health state over time, for clinical plausibility.

Traceable CostTermDirectly Attributable Cost, Assignable Cost

A cost that can be directly attributed to a particular department, product, or service line without relying on an allocation method.

Tracer IndicatorTermTracer Condition Indicator, Sentinel Indicator

A specific, carefully selected health service indicator used to represent broader health system performance across a defined domain.

Trade-offTermTradeoff, Competing-Objective Balance

A situation in which achieving more of one objective requires accepting less of another, such as extra health benefit only at extra cost.

Trade-Off AnalysisTermTradeoff Analysis, Trade-Off Assessment

A systematic examination of how competing objectives, such as cost and health benefit, are balanced against one another in a given decision.

Tragedy of the CommonsConceptCommons Problem, Common-Pool Overuse

The tragedy of the commons is the overuse of a shared resource, such as antibiotic effectiveness, when each user keeps the gain but the cost falls on all.

Training PolicyTermWorkforce Development Policy, Staff Learning Policy

Government or organisational policy governing the requirements and standards for healthcare workforce education and ongoing professional development.

Training SetTermTraining Data, Learning Set

The subset of data used to originally fit a statistical model's parameters, distinct from a separate validation or test set.

Trajectory AnalysisTermGrowth Curve Modelling, Longitudinal Pattern Analysis

A statistical approach identifying and characterising distinct patterns of change in an outcome over time, often revealing subgroups with different courses.

Transaction CostConceptTransacting Cost, Exchange Cost

A transaction cost is the cost of finding, negotiating, monitoring and enforcing an exchange, such as a health service contract, beyond the price paid.

Transcription ErrorTermCopying Error, Recording Error, Data Entry Error, Keying Error, Input Error

A mistake introduced when data are copied or transferred from one format or source to another, such as paper to electronic record.

Transdisciplinary CareTermCross-Disciplinary Care, Boundary-Blurring Care

A delivery model in which providers from different disciplines collaborate so closely that traditional boundaries blur, jointly developing a unified approach.

Transfer ManagementTermHandover Management, Patient Handoff Coordination

The processes coordinating the movement of a patient from one facility or unit to another, maintaining continuity and safety during transitions.

TransferabilityTermCross-Setting Applicability, Portability of Findings

The extent to which research findings generated in one setting or population can be validly applied to inform decisions elsewhere.

Transferability AssessmentTermTransferability Evaluation, Cross-Jurisdiction Assessment

An evaluation of whether an economic evaluation from one country or population can be validly applied to inform a decision elsewhere.

Transient OutcomeTermTemporary Outcome, Short-Lived Outcome

A clinical or economic outcome that appears temporarily following treatment but does not persist, unlike a sustained outcome that continues over time.

Transient StateConceptNon-Absorbing State

A health state within a Markov model that a patient can leave and potentially return to, unlike an absorbing state such as death.

Transition MatrixConceptProbability Matrix, Markov Transition Table

A transition matrix is the table of probabilities of moving between, or staying in, health states in one cycle of a Markov model, with rows summing to one.

Transition ProbabilityConceptMove Probability, Cycle Transition Chance

A transition probability is the chance of moving from one health state to another, or staying, during one cycle of a Markov or state-transition model.

Transition RewardTermTransition Payoff, One-Off Transition Value

A cost or outcome value applied at the moment a patient moves between two health states, unlike a state reward accrued over time.

Transition StructureTermAllowed-Move Pattern, State-Flow Structure

The overall pattern of permitted movements between health states within a Markov model, reflecting which transitions are clinically plausible.

Transitional CareTermTransition-of-Care Service, Inter-Setting Care

Actions ensuring the coordination and continuity of care as patients transfer between different locations or levels of care.

TransitivityTerm

A key network meta-analysis assumption that treatments compared indirectly are similar enough in relevant characteristics for the comparison to be valid.

Transmission ModelConcept

A model explicitly representing how an infectious disease spreads through a population by tracking interaction between infectious and susceptible individuals.

Transmission ProbabilityTerm

The likelihood that an infectious disease passes from an infected to a susceptible individual during a single contact between them.

TransparencyTerm

The degree to which the methods, data sources, and assumptions underlying research or a model are made clear and accessible to reviewers.