A Cost-Utility Analysis of Neonatal Circumcision

Robert S. Van Howe
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Robert S. Van Howe: Department of Pediatrics, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, Marquette, Michigan

Medical Decision Making, 2004, vol. 24, issue 6, 584-601

Abstract: A cost-utility analysis, based on published data from multiple observational studies, comparing boys circumcised at birth and those not circumcised was undertaken using the Quality of Well-being Scale, a Markov analysis, the standard reference case, and a societal perspective. Neonatal circumcision increased incremental costs by $828.42 per patient and resulted in an incremental 15.30 well-years lost per 1000 males. If neonatal circumcision was cost-free, pain-free, and had no immediate complications, it was still more costly than not circumcising. Using sensitivity analysis, it was impossible to arrange a scenario that made neonatal circumcision cost-effective. Neonatal circumcision is not good health policy, and support for it as a medical procedure cannot be justified financially or medically.

Keywords: circumcision; phimosis; cost-utility analysis; circumcision complications; penile cancer (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2004
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:medema:v:24:y:2004:i:6:p:584-601

DOI: 10.1177/0272989X04271039

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