title: Vaccinating Thai adolescents against hepatitis A: is it cost-effective?
abstract: Hepatitis A infection is a common disease in tropical countries, including Thailand. Hepatitis A vaccination of children and adolescents has been recommended by many countries. We performed a cost-benefit analysis in order to determine the best strategy for Thailand. Three strategies were tested: a) no intervention; b) vaccination without screening; c) vaccination after screening. A review of the literature was performed in order to set the path probability of each strategy. The cost of intervention of each strategy was identified; the outcome cost was the total economic loss due to hepatitis A infection as the result of each strategy. Benefit was the final total cost according to each strategy (cost of intervention and economic loss due to possible hepatitis A infection). Surprisingly, the most benefit was gained from a strategy of no intervention. Vaccination after screening was the worst strategy. Our results indicated that hepatitis A vaccination for Thai adolescents was not cost-effective.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Microscopy, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
authors.forename: Suphan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Soogarun
authors.forename: Viroj
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Wiwanitkit
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D006506:Hepatitis A / Q000517:prevention & control*; D022362:Hepatitis A Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D017589:Immunization Programs / Q000191:economics*; D013785:Thailand
chemical_list: D022362:Hepatitis A Vaccines