title: Universal prenatal hepatitis B testing: is it cost-effective?
abstract: It was recently recommended that all pregnant women undergo prenatal hepatitis B screening. This change from previous policy (which advocated screening of only those individuals with recognized epidemiologic risk factors) is a very costly strategy to use in an effort to prevent the perinatal spread of hepatitis B in the "no-risk-factor" population. Inherent problems already exist in screening, related to the following: 1) the failure for disease transmission to occur in the majority of hepatitis B e antigen-negative pregnancies, 2) the lack of established efficacy of prophylaxis in the hepatitis B e antigen-negative pregnancy, 3) the preponderance of hepatitis B e antigen negativity in pregnant hepatitis B surface antigen carriers, and 4) the compliance of the mother to ensure that the prophylaxis program is accomplished. These are further magnified by the lower rates of hepatitis B surface antigen and hepatitis B e antigen positivity in the population without risk factors. The major expense of a screening program is the hepatitis B surface antigen testing of the mother. The cost to prevent a clinically important case of hepatitis B in the neonates of mothers with no risk factors is $180,000, which is 15 times the cost of preventing a case in neonates of mothers with risk factors. This price appears not to be cost-effective.
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology, Olive View Medical Center, Sylmar, California.
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Koretz
mesh_terms: D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D005260:Female; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006511:Hepatitis B Antigens / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000191:economics*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000191:economics*; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D006511:Hepatitis B Antigens