Model-based cost-effectiveness estimates of testing strategies for diagnosing hepatitis C virus infection in Central and Western Africa

Léa Duchesne, Gilles Hejblum, Richard Njouom, Coumba Touré Kane, Thomas d’Aquin Toni, Raoul Moh, Babacar Sylla, Nicolas Rouveau, Alain Attia and Karine Lacombe

PLOS ONE, 2020, vol. 15, issue 8, 1-18

Abstract: Background: Whereas 72% of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected people worldwide live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), only 6% of them have been diagnosed. Innovative technologies for HCV diagnosis provide opportunities for developing testing strategies more adapted to resource-constrained settings. However, studies about their economic feasibility in LMICs are lacking. Methods: Adopting a health sector perspective in Cameroon, Cote-d'Ivoire, and Senegal, a decision tree model was developed to compare 12 testing strategies with the following characteristics: a one-step or two-step testing sequence, HCV-RNA or HCV core antigen as confirmative biomarker, laboratory or point-of-care (POC) tests, and venous blood samples or dried blood spots (DBS). Outcomes measures were the number of true positives (TPs), cost per screened individual, incremental cost-effectiveness ratios, and nationwide budget. Corresponding time horizon was immediate, and outcomes were accordingly not discounted. Detailed sensitivity analyses were conducted. Findings: In the base-case, a two-step POC-based strategy including anti-HCV antibody (HCV-Ab) and HCV-RNA testing had the lowest cost, €8.18 per screened individual. Assuming a lost-to-follow-up rate after screening > 1.9%, a DBS-based laboratory HCV-RNA after HCV-Ab POC testing was the single un-dominated strategy, requiring an additional cost of €3653.56 per additional TP detected. Both strategies would require 8–25% of the annual public health expenditure of the study countries for diagnosing 30% of HCV-infected individuals. Assuming a seroprevalence > 46.9% or a cost of POC HCV-RNA

Date: 2020
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0238035

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0238035

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