25 de juny 2018

Cost-effectiveness of new (genomic) benefits, it's just the begining

HERC database of health economics and genomics studies 
Cost-effectiveness of cell-free DNA in maternal blood testing for prenatal detection of trisomy 21, 18 and 13: a systematic review

Just yesterday our government suddenly decided to introduce a new benefit in public insurance coverage: contingent DNA based non-invasive prenatal screening. And the question is: does someone know if this new benefit is cost-effective?
You can get the answer after reading this review article, and the summary is:
 In total, 12 studies were included, four of them performed in Europe. Three studies evaluated NIPT as a contingent test, three studies evaluated a universal NIPT, and six studies evaluated both. The results are heterogeneous, especially for the contingent NIPT where the results range from NIPT being dominant to a dominated strategy. Universal NIPT was found to be more effective but also costlier than the usual screening, with very high incremental cost-effectiveness ratios. One advantage of screening with NIPT is lower invasive procedure-related foetal losses than with usual screening. In conclusion, the cost-effectiveness of contingent NIPT is uncertain according to several studies, while the universal NIPT is not cost-effective currently.
If this is so, since uncertainty is the word that better reflects its current cost-effectiveness, why do the have introduced? Because they don't care about it. These are not the best days for a health economist (and for the society as a whole). Maybe it's just the begining of a new world without scarcity, and I can't figure out.

Manuel Anoro