title: Cost-effectiveness of hepatitis A vaccination in children, adolescents, and adults.
abstract: Hepatitis A is a major public health problem in the United States and other developed countries, largely because decreased natural immunity allows for increased susceptibility. To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of routine vaccination of children, adolescents, and certain high-risk adults against hepatitis A, economic analyses of hepatitis A vaccination were identified through searches of MEDLINE, EMBASE, and BIOSIS (February, 1992, to December, 2001) for studies, reviews, editorials, and letters from peer-reviewed journals published in English, French, German, Italian, or Spanish. Experts were also contacted. Articles conforming to accepted standards of quality for health-economic studies were used to compile data on vaccination of children, and results were synthesized in a narrative review. This review of economic analyses of vaccine use in several developed countries shows cost-effectiveness comparable with that of other vaccines in children and within accepted boundaries for adolescents and high-risk adults.
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Liver Transplant Program, University of California, San Francisco, 94143, USA. prosenth@peds.ucsf.edu
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rosenthal
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D019353:Endemic Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control; D006506:Hepatitis A / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D022362:Hepatitis A Vaccines / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D012307:Risk Factors; D014195:Travel; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D022362:Hepatitis A Vaccines