Blackwell Publishing IncMalden, USAVHEValue in Health1098-30152006 Blackwell Publishing20071028397Original ArticleCost-Effectiveness of Newborn ScreeningCipriano et al.
Volume 10 • Number 2 • 2007 VALUE IN HEALTH
The Cost-Effectiveness of Expanding Newborn Screening for up to 21 Inherited Metabolic Disorders Using Tandem Mass Spectrometry: Results from a Decision-Analytic Model Lauren E. Cipriano, BSc, BA,1 C. Anthony Rupar, PhD,2 Gregory S. Zaric, PhD1 1
Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada; 2Child and Parent Resource Institute, Children’s Health Research Foundation, and Departments of Biochemistry and Paediatrics, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
ABS T RACT
Objectives: In 2005, in Ontario, Canada, newborns were only screened for phenylketonuria (PKU) and hypothyroidism. Tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) has since been implemented as a new screening technology because it can screen for PKU and many other diseases simultaneously. We estimated the cost-effectiveness of using this technology to expand the Ontario newborn screening program to screen for each disease independently and for hypothetical bundles of up to 21 metabolic diseases. Methods: We constructed a decision-analytic model to estimate the incremental costs and life-years of survival that can be gained by screening or changing screening technologies. Costs and health benefits were estimated for a cohort of babies born in Ontario in 1 year. Secondary sources and expert opinion were used to estimate the test characteristics, disease prevalence, treatment effectiveness, disease progression rates, and mortality. The London Health Sciences Centre Case Costing Initiative, the Ontario Health Insurance Plan Schedule, and the Ontario Drug Benefits plan formulary were used to estimate costs. Results: Changing screening technologies, from the Guthrie test to MS/MS, for PKU detection had an incremental cost of $5,500,000 per life-year (LY) gained. We identified no diseases for which the incremental cost of screening for just that
disease was less than $100,000 per LY gained. The incremental costs of screening ranged from $222,000 (HMG-CoA lyase deficiency) to $142,500,000 (glutaric acidemia type II) per LY gained. Screening for a bundle of diseases including PKU and the 14 most cost-effective diseases to screen for cost less than $70,000 per LY gained, and the incremental costeffectiveness of adding each of the 14 diseases to the bundle was less than $100,000 per LY gained. The incremental cost of adding the 15th most cost-effective disease was $309,400 per LY gained. Conclusions: Early diagnosis and treatment of metabolic disease is important to reduce disease severity and delay or prevent the onset of the disease. Screening at birth reduces the morbidity, mortality, and social burden associated with the irreversible effects of disease on the population. Our analysis suggests that the cost-efficiencies gained by using MS/MS to screen for bundles of diseases rather than just one disease are sufficient to warrant consideration of an expanded screening program. It is, however, not costeffective to screen for all diseases that can be screened for using this technology. Keywords: cost-effectiveness, infant mortality, metabolic disease, newborn screening, policy.
Introduction
metabolic disorders in a single analysis through the differentiation and quantitation of multiple molecules within a single specimen [1]. Elevation of one biochemical marker may indicate that an infant has one of several diseases, whereas the elevation of a combination of markers may lead physicians to a specific diagnosis more quickly. At birth, most infants born with an IEM do not have symptoms, although infants with some disorders can present acutely within the first few days of life. Typically, these early presentations include metabolic acidosis, hyperammonemia, hypoglycemia, or seizures. Children with an IEM may present later in life with physical or developmental delay, or metabolic crises. Many IEMs can be treated by restrictive diets and medications to greatly reduce and prevent mortality
Screening newborns for metabolic disease began with the screening of phenylketonuria (PKU) in the 1960s, but technological advancements in many diagnostic areas have led to the expansion of newborn screening to include other inborn errors of metabolism (IEMs), hemoglobinopathies, hormone deficiencies, enzyme deficiencies, and hearing impairment. The use of tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) in newborn screening programs enables screening for 30 or more Address correspondence to: Gregory S. Zaric, Richard Ivey School of Business, 1151 Richmond Street, N. University of Western Ontario London, ON N6A 3K7, Canada. E-mail:
[email protected] 10.1111/j.1524-4733.2006.00156.x
© 2007, International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) 1098-3015/07/83 83–97
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84 and morbidity, including mental retardation, severe neurological disease, and physical deformity [2–9]. Early diagnosis and treatment generally improves outcomes. Screening programs are often designed to screen all infants for selected IEMs and identify those children that require further investigation to obtain a definitive diagnosis so that appropriate treatment can begin before clinical symptoms develop. Although each individual IEM is rare, summing the incidences of the 21 metabolic diseases discussed in this article indicates that these diseases collectively affect approximately 1 in every 3000 babies born in Ontario. A dried blood spot (DBS) is collected from every newborn in Ontario. Between 1965 and 2006 the DBS was tested for abnormally high levels of phenylalanine using the Guthrie bacterial inhibition assay [10], and a positive PKU diagnosis was confirmed by a quantitative amino acid test on a second blood sample. Babies with other diseases were diagnosed after clinical presentation. Diagnosis of an IEM can be challenging because the disorders are individually rare, symptoms are often similar to those observed in acquired diseases, and the metabolic decompensations are often
Cipriano et al. associated with intercurrent illnesses. Treatment begins once a diagnosis is made; however, irreversible damage may have already occurred. The American College of Medical Genetics recommends universal screening for 29 diseases, including 17 diseases that can be screened for using MS/MS [11]. Nevertheless, determining which diseases are appropriate for inclusion in screening programs is controversial, involving both scientific and political judgments [12–16]. In 2005, screening programs across Canada varied widely, ranging from 2 to 29 diseases, with only Ontario and New Brunswick screening for two diseases [17]. In 2000, two-thirds of US states screened for six or fewer diseases [18], whereas in 2005, every state screened for more than eight diseases, and two-thirds of states screened for more than 30 diseases [19]. Model-based estimates for the cost-effectiveness of screening are available for PKU [20–22], mediumchain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency (MCADD) [22–25], and some other IEMs [7,22,25,26] primarily for the US and UK populations. This article presents a decision-analytic model (Fig. 1) to evaluate the
Figure 1 Schematic diagram of decision model. The small square represents the decision to implement a policy of newborn screening that includes a specific disease, or to continue the status quo of not screening newborns for the disease. In the case of phenylketonuria (PKU), the small square represents the decision to change the screening technology to mass spectrometry, or to continue with the current technology; therefore, in the case of PKU, the “No Screening” branch is replaced with a “Screening” branch. Circles represent chance events. The model divides babies into two groups based on whether they have or do not have the disease. In the expanded newborn screening strategy, all babies are initially tested for the disease; those who test positive have their original sample retested. If a baby has two positive test results, their parents are contacted, confirmatory testing is initiated, and prospective treatment begins. This model assumes that the confirmatory testing has a sensitivity and a specificity of 100%. Babies with the disease may have a severe or mild disease course, early or late onset, or may never become affected by the disease. These diseasespecific variations were modeled by dividing infants with the disease into Categories 1 and 2, and in some cases, category 3.
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Cost-Effectiveness of Newborn Screening incremental costs, health benefits, and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio for expanding the newborn screening program in Ontario using MS/MS, to change screening technologies for PKU, and to potentially include 20 additional diseases that can be tested for at birth.
Methods All costs are presented in 2004 Canadian dollars. Costs in other currencies were converted at the average international exchange rate for August 2004. Costs from other periods in time were adjusted using the Canadian Health Care Price Index [27]. All costs and benefits were discounted at 3%. Important assumptions in this analysis are summarized in Table 1.
this, the specificity of the repeated MS/MS test was reduced. We assumed that the average positive predictive rate of an expanded Ontario newborn screening program would be 20%, similar to the California Newborn Screening trial (a pilot program) [28]. In addition, the positive predictive rates of tyrosinemia and MCADD have been reported as 2% [29] and 87% [28], respectively. Using these known positive predictive rates and holding the sensitivity of the test constant, we estimated the specificity of the second MS/ MS test. There are diseases, such as MCADD, where the screening test may identify patients in whom the disease may never develop symptomatically. In this analysis, we segregated these patients into category 3 and assumed that although they would never develop the disease they are treated.
Incidence and Severity Patients with each disease are divided by disease severity, age of onset, or responsiveness to treatment. We defined category 1 as the neonatal, classical, severe, or early-onset forms of the diseases. We defined category 2 as the later-onset, chronic, or milder forms of the diseases. Some diseases have such mild variations that they would not necessarily be detected or treated without newborn screening; we defined these as category 3 (Table 2 and Supplementary Table S1). In patients, the symptoms and outcomes associated with each disease variation are not mutually exclusive, but for the purposes of this analysis, only three distinct categories were modeled. For diseases with more than three recognized variations, variations were grouped based on patient outcome.
Sensitivity, Specificity, and Positive Predictive Rate We assumed that all positive MS/MS test results are repeated on the original sample to confirm the result, which increases the positive predictive rate of screening. Nevertheless, because the repeated MS/MS test does not occur on an independently taken blood spot, the possibility of incorrect indication due to biological variation, poor sample collection, and sample contamination does not change. To account for Table 1
Health Benefits Mortality rates were estimated from the 2000 World Health Organization Life Table for Canada [30]. Information regarding incremental mortality for persons with metabolic diseases were collected from the literature where available and when not available was estimated by experts (Table 2). Health benefits are expressed in terms of changes in life-years (LYs) of survival associated with a given screening program.
Start-Up Costs Based on manufacturer-estimated MS/MS throughput of approximately 50,000 samples per year (Waters Corporation, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada), estimated machine downtime for maintenance, and approximately 130,000 births per year [31], we estimated that Ontario would require three mass spectrometers. Sample quotations were acquired from PerkinElmer, Inc. (Woodbridge, Ontario, Canada) and Waters Corporation for all the capital equipment required to start an MS/MS facility. The total cost depended on the company, as well as the brand of MS/ MS, autosampler, and gas generation system selected. Training costs, computers and analysis software, and 5 years of full-service maintenance are included in
Summary of key assumptions
• Screening can be carried out on any subset of the 21 diseases considered in this analysis. • All diseases are grouped into three levels of severity: (1) neonatal, classical, severe, or early onset forms of the disease; (2) later-onset, chronic, or milder forms of the disease; and (3) mild variations that would not be detected or treated without newborn screening. • Patients in the first two categories would eventually be diagnosed clinically. • Patients in the third category have the same life expectancy at birth as members of the general population. • All initially positive screening results are confirmed with a second tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) analysis before the patient is contacted. • Positive results from MS/MS testing are confirmed with other technologies before a final diagnosis is made. • While waiting for confirmation, all patients receive 3 months of treatment, three appointments with a metabolic specialist, one appointment with a social worker, and one appointment with a genetic counselor. Patients receiving dietary therapy also receive three appointments with a registered dietitian. • Start-up and operating costs were estimated using quotations provided by two manufacturers of MS/MS equipment. • Hospital-related costs were obtained from case-costing at the London Health Sciences Center, London, Ontario. • All costs are expressed in 2004 Canadian dollars. • Future costs and benefits are discounted at 3%.
1:100,000 [46]‡‡ 1:250,000 [47]§§ 1:82,900 [36] 1:11,700 [49,50]
Amino acidemias Tyrosinemia type I (hepatorenal tyrosinemia) (TYR) Homocystinuria (HCYS) Maple syrup urine disease Phenylketonuria and variants
[7] [7] [38] [41] [43]
77 [7,25] 43 [2] 84 [9,48] 75
60 [45] 60 [45] 100
80 80 76 50 83 100
50 [33] 100 86 [34]§ 20* 36 [35]¶ 100 70 [1,7] 100
% of patients
30 35 35 [9,48] 78
10 15 15††
70 70 10 20 10 10
25‡ 25‡ 20 25 25# 25 65 1
Early diagnosis
15 25 20 65
5 11 11††
50 50 5 10 5 5
14‡ 14‡ 4 14 12# 12 59 6 months
Clinical diagnosis
23 [7,25] 57 [2] 16 [9,48] —
40 [45] 40 [45] —
— — 12 [38,39] 50 [41] 17 [43] —
50 [33] — 14 80* 64 [35]¶ — — —
% of patients
30 45 35 —
65 30 —
— — 25 25 30 —
50 — 25 65 35 — — —
Early diagnosis
20 35 20 —
40 20 —
— — 10 15 20 —
35 — 10 50 20 — — —
Clinical diagnosis
Category 2 Average LE (years)*
25 [49]
— —
— — —
20 [7] 20 [7] 12 [7,38,40] — — —
— — — — — — 30 [1,7] —
% of patients
Category 3
*Expert opinion combined with literature reports of natural history cited as sources for “Incremental Mortality” in Supplementary Table S1. † When incidence was stated as “>1:250,000” in the literature, we used 1:250,000 in the base case. ‡ Assume to be the same as CPT II. § Patients included in category 1 (86%): patients indicated as having a severe phenotype, patients with unclassified phenotype but having died within year 0, and 20 known neonatal sibling deaths (undiagnosed). [34] ¶ Category 1 (36%) includes 9 infants who presented before day 2, and half (7) of the unexplained sibling deaths; category 2 (64%) includes 14 infants who presented between 2 and 8 months, 5 who presented later, half (7) of the unexplained sibling deaths and 2 presymptomatically treated patients who never clinically presented. [35] # Assume to be the same as LCHADD. **Carrier frequency in the aboriginal populations of Island Lake, Manitoba and Ojibway-Cree dialect-speaking Aboriginals of north-western Ontario estimated to be 1:17, incidence of 1:235. [37] †† Assume to be the same as ASA. ‡‡ Incidence of TYR in the Saguenay-lac St Jean region in Quebec is 1:1846 and the incidence in Quebec is 1:16,786. [46] §§ Incidence of HCYS in the Pennsylvania Mennonite population is approximately 1:760. [2,47]
1:363,000 [44] 1:70,000 [29,44] 1:57,000 [44]
>1:250,000 [1] 1:50,000 [1] 1:50,000 [37]** 1:362,000 [29] 1:48,000 [42] 1:50,000 [1]
Organic acidemias Hydroxymethylglutaryl (HMG)-CoA lyase deficiency 3-methylcrotonyl-CoA carboxylase deficiency Glutaric acidemia type I Isovaleric acidemia Methylmalonic acidemia Propionic acidemia
Urea cycle disorders Arginemia (arginase deficiency) Arginosuccinic aciduria (arginosuccinate lyase deficiency) (ASA) Citrullinemia (arginosuccinate synthase deficiency)
1:120,667 [29] >1:250,000 [1] 1:362,000 [29] >1:250,000 [1] 1:120,667 [29] >1:250,000 [1] 1:15,400 [36] >1:250,000 [1]
Incidence†
Category 1 Average LE (years)*
Disease incidence and proportion of patients affected with specific disease course and life expectancy (LE)
Fatty acid β-oxidation disorders Carnitine transporter defect Carnitine palmitoyl transferase I deficiency Carnitine/acylcarnitine translocase deficiency Carnitine palmitoyl transferase II deficiency (CPTII) Very long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency Long-chain hydroxyl acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency (LCHADD) Medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency Glutaric acidemia type II
Disease
Table 2
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Cipriano et al.
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Cost-Effectiveness of Newborn Screening these estimates, with total costs before financing of $19,650, $78,325, and $412,500, respectively. We assumed that the capital equipment would have a 5year life, with no salvage value. The annual cost, assuming that the capital costs would be financed for 5 years at 6.5% annual interest [32] and that payments would be equally distributed over the 5 years, ranged from $337,326 to $490,379 (Table 3).
Confirmatory Testing When both the initial and repeated MS/MS test results are positive, the family is contacted so that treatment can begin immediately and the MS/MS test result can be confirmed using a different diagnostic technology on an independently taken blood sample. Some confirmatory tests are readily available in Ontario and the
Table 3 Base case values and costs of the screening program, health care, hospitalization, education, and social services. All costs are presented in 2004 Canadian dollars Parameter Participation rate Guthrie screening program Bacterial inhibition assay sensitivity Bacterial inhibition assay specificity Cost per sample (averaged estimates of 70,000 and 100,000 samples per year), including a sample repeat rate of 2% Cost of clinical diagnosis Mass spectrometry screening program Sensitivity (%) Fatty acid β-oxidation disorders Organic acidemias Urea cycle disorders (not including CPS and OTC deficiencies) Amino acidemias (except B6-responsive HCYS) B6-responsive HCYS Specificity (%) Fatty acid β-oxidation disorders Organic acidemias Urea cycle disorders Amino acidemias Costs ($) Annual equipment cost Staff expense per sample, two estimates were averaged for MS/MS operation in the Ontario provincial laboratory Reagent and consumables per sample Average per capita health care costs ($) Average health care costs (>1 year) Average health care costs (1–4 years) Average health care costs (5–14 years) Average health care costs (15–19 years) Average health care costs (20–44 years) Average health care costs (45–64 years) Average health care costs (65–79 years) Average health care costs (80+ years) Hospitalizations ($) Emergency room visit Inpatient hospitalization, patient under 10 years Inpatient hospitalization, patient over 10 years Additional health care services ($) Initial call to schedule appointment (15-minute phone call with registered nurse) Initial specialist consult (all presumptive positives) Subsequent pediatrician and specialist appointments (per appointment)
Base case
Reference
98%
[51]
98.50% 99.95% $0.66
[49] [49] *
$4,389
‡
100 100 95.54 100 38.7
[25,52] [25] [29] [7,53] [2]
99.95 99.98 99.67 99.95
[29] [25,29] [29] [25,53]
490,380 0.85 13.46 5,211 800 693 1,089 1,825 4,244 7,736 14,417 1,167 2,055 1,765
See text †
§
[54] [54] [54] [54] [54] [54] [54] [54] See text See text See text
7.03 122.00 73.85
[55] [56] [56]
75.96
[57]
238.20 100.90
[56] [56]
Maintenance diagnostics ($) Quantitative amino acid analysis Urine organic acids Abdominal ultrasound
108 108 339
[58] [58] [56,57]
Nondietary treatments ($) Hemodialysis—initial acute Hemodialysis—chronic or repeat Liver transplant Kidney transplant
1,045.15 537.40 67,965.85 32,593.30
[56,57] [56,57] [56,57] [56,57]
Registered dietitian appointments (per 60 minute appointment) Initial genetic counseling appointment (in the year of diagnosis) Follow-up genetic counseling appointment (3 years after initial diagnosis)
Cipriano et al.
88 Table 3
continued
Parameter
Base case ¶
Pharmaceutical treatments($) Arginine (660 mg/kg/day) Ascorbic acid (100 mg/day) Betaine (6 g/day) Carbamazepine (200 mg/day) Cobalamin (1.5 mg/day) Cysteine (6 g/day) Glycine (375 mg/kg/day) L-carnitine (100 mg/kg/day) MCT (120 ml/day) Metronidazole (250 mg/day) NTBC (1 mg/kg/day) Pyridoxine (300 mg/day) Riboflavin (200 mg/day) Sodium-phenylbutyrate (500 mg/kg/day) Thiamine (500 mg/day)
(approximate annual cost) 41,063 30 73 90 1,700 5,724 685 7,565 4,380 155 91,250 82 58 71,237 3,980
Dietary treatments ($) Elemental formula (year 0) Elemental formula (1–8 years) Elemental formula (8–16 years) Elemental formula (over 16 years) Low protein foods (1–8 years) Low protein foods (>8 years)
4,000 5,000 6,000 5,000 2,000 3,500
Education and social services ($) Standard education (5–18 years) Additional classroom support Advanced classroom support Living in an assisted-living facility Living in an institutional facility Social worker appointments (per 60 minute appointment)
7,500 18,000 27,000 18,000 36,000 76.98
Discount rate for costs and benefits
Reference Estimated [57] Estimated [59] [59] [57] Estimated [57] [59] [59] Estimated [59] Estimated Estimated [57] [60] [60] [60] [60] [60] [60] [61] [62] [62] See text See text [57]
3%
*Described as requiring approximately 0.15 full-time-equivalent (FTE) technician, 0.25 FTE technician II, and 0.15 FTE head technologist. (N. Lepage et al., unpublished) † N. Lepage et al., unpublished. ‡ We assumed that one hospital stay and two emergency visits with laboratory tests included would be required to clinically diagnose a patient with an inborn error of metabolism. § PerkinElmer (Woodbridge, Ontario, Canada) sells a kit that combines all the reagents required for detection of amino acids and acylcarnitines, standards, and derivatizing agent for $7.86 per clinical test. Waters Corporation (Mississauga, Ontario, Canada) did not have a price at the time of our analysis. ¶ Approximate annual cost for a 25-kg individual using an average treatment regimen. CPS, carbamoyl phosphate synthetase; HCYS, homocystinuria; MCT, medium chain triglycerideoil; NTBC, 2-(2-nitro-4-trifluoromethylbenzoyl)-1,3-cyclohexanedione; OTC, ornithine transcarbamylase.
costs of those tests were estimated using the Ministry of Health Schedule of Laboratory Fees [58]. Rare metabolic enzyme assays are, however, often performed outside Canada because they are otherwise unavailable. We assumed that these tests would continue to be performed outside of Canada. Once an IEM is suspected through clinical presentation, confirmatory testing is also required. Nevertheless, the cost of that testing is not incurred until the year of clinical diagnosis. In addition, other costs associated with clinical diagnosis are also incurred in the year of diagnosis. We estimated these costs to be $4389 (the value of one hospital stay and two emergency room visits with laboratory tests). Based on personal experience, we assumed that, on average, confirmation test results would be available within 3 months. During this period the patient and/or patient’s family (depending on the age of the patient at diagnosis) would receive three 60-minute appointments with a metabolic specialist, one 60-minute appointment with a social worker, and one 2-hour appointment with a genetic counselor. For diseases that require nutritional counseling, the patient and/or
patient’s family would also have three 60-minute appointments with a registered dietitian before confirmation test results were available. In the sensitivity analysis, we evaluated the effect of reduced quality of life that parents may experience during this uncertain 3-month period, ranging from 0.97 to 0.99 annualized [24].
Treatment Once the patient and/or patient’s family receives confirmation of diagnosis, we assumed that the patient would receive treatment and blood tests for therapeutic monitoring and indications of disease/treatment complications for the remainder of his/her life. We also assumed that the patient and/or patient’s family would receive a second appointment with a genetic counselor 3 years after the initial diagnosis. Patients and their families would have regular appointments with metabolic specialists, dietitians, and social workers. The regularity of these appointments varies with age, severity of disease, ability to adhere to treatment, and responsiveness to treatment (Supplementary Table S2).
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Cost-Effectiveness of Newborn Screening Hospitalization We estimated the total cost of hospitalization, length of stay, and emergency room visits using the cost of treating patients with metabolic diseases, acidosis, and alkalosis at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) [57]. We pooled the costing data for all the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Edition (ICD10) codes included (ICD-10 codes defining primary or secondary diagnosis: E70.0–70.2, E71.3, E72.0–72.2, E72.5, E72.8, E87.2, E87.3), and then divided them by type of hospitalization: inpatient, 493 cases; and emergency visits, 34 visits. The average cost of an emergency department visit was $974. Inpatient hospitalizations were further divided by age: less than 10 years, 45 cases; and more than 10 years, 448 cases. The average lengths of stay were 12 and 16 days, respectively. The average cost of an inpatient stay was $1952 per day for patients less than 10 years of age and $1675 per day for patients more than 10 years of age. The average daily cost of all inpatient hospitalizations for all reasons at LHSC was $1314 [57]. Physician costs are billed directly to the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) and are not included in the cost of hospital care. Using the Ontario MOHLTC’s Schedule of Benefits for Physician Services [56], we estimated the cost of physician services to bring the final cost of an emergency department visit to $1167, and of inpatient hospitalizations to $2055 and $1765 per day.
support between ages 5 and 18 years, estimated to cost $18,000 per year [62], and were assumed to live in an assisted-living facility from age 18 until 75, at a cost of $18,000 per year. We assumed that patients described as severely disabled required advanced classroom support for more than 80% of the school day between ages 5 and 18 years, costing $27,000 per year [62], and that they live in an institutional facility from age 18 until 75, costing $36,000 per year. Although the copayment structure in Ontario varies, depending on the patient’s ability to pay, we estimated this to be the total cost based on similarly styled, not-for-profit US facilities.
Screening Program Strategies Two program strategies were assessed: each disease was assessed independently, and diseases were assessed in bundles. Policymakers may choose to screen for any one individual disease and so when assessed individually, the incremental cost of each disease included the entire capital cost of investing in the MS/MS technology, the variable cost of screening, and the cost of program maintenance. One benefit of MS/MS, however, is that several diseases can be screened for at one time, enabling policymakers to design a screening program without incurring additional capital costs when additional diseases are considered. Diseases were bundled into groups based on their individual cost-effectiveness and sufficient detail is provided such that the costeffectiveness of bundles not presented can be determined.
Social Services and Education We assumed that all families of infants who received a diagnosis of an IEM receive 1 hour with a social worker in the year of diagnosis and 1 hour in the subsequent year. One study indicates that parents of infants diagnosed via a screening program are better able to cope with the challenges of the disease than parents whose children are diagnosed clinically [63]. Therefore, in the base case we assumed that the 9% reported in that study to have difficulty coping despite early diagnosis and the 29% reported to have difficulty coping after a child has been clinically diagnosed with a metabolic disease [63] would continue to receive 1 hour of social work services per year until they are 18 years of age. In the sensitivity analysis, we tested a range of other assumptions, including that social work use is equal at the low rate (9% of patients each year), equal at the high rate (29% of patients each year), and eliminated for all groups. For all disease states and outcomes, all school-age children attend public school and, unless otherwise noted, do not require special assistance. Information regarding intelligence level and social and physical development were acquired from secondary sources and, when not available, expert opinion (Supplementary Table S2). Patients described as moderately disabled were assumed to require additional classroom
Results
Screening by MS/MS for PKU Only In the base case, changing technologies for PKU screening costs an additional $2.26 million each year and has an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of $5,492,114 per LY gained (Table 4). Every 6 years of screening using MS/MS would prevent one false negative (0.17 fewer false negatives per year) and 0.412 LY will be gained by each birth cohort.
Screening by MS/MS for Other IEMs The cost-effectiveness of screening for each disease independently ranged from $221,719 to $142,462,687 per LY gained (Fig. 2a, Table 4). The four most cost-effective diseases to screen for (HMG-CoA lyase deficiency, MCADD, methylmalonic acidemia, and 3-methylcrotonyl-CoA carboxylase deficiency), assuming each is screened for independently, have incremental costs ranging from $221,719 to $266,991 per LY gained. Among all the diseases assessed, these four diseases do not have the lowest incremental costs, but they do have the largest incremental LY gains. Screening for MCADD alone has an ICER of $253,161 per LY gained. This is higher than others
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Table 4 Incremental cost-effectiveness of each disease evaluated independently and a breakdown of incremental costs†, savings, and life-years (LYs) gained per patient screened Incremental cost ($) (including start-up*)
Incremental cost ($) (excluding start-up)
Incremental LYs gained ($) (×10−5)‡
ICER§ ($) (including start-up)
ICER ($) (excluding start-up)
Fatty acid β-oxidation disorders Carnitine transporter defect Carnitine palmitoyl transferase I deficiency Carnitine/acylcarnitine translocase deficiency Carnitine palmitoyl transferase II deficiency Very long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency Long-chain hydroxyl acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency Medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency Glutaric acidemia type II
19.89 19.92 20.02 19.89 19.97 20.00 24.43 19.09
1.52 1.55 1.65 1.52 1.60 1.63 6.06 0.72
3.59 1.67 1.76 1.60 4.32 1.88 9.65 0.0134
554,039 1,192,814 1,137,500 1,243,125 462,269 1,063,830 253,161 142,462,687
42,340 92,814 93,750 95,000 37,037 86,702 62,798 5,373,134
Organic acidemias HMG-CoA lyase deficiency 3-methylcrotonyl-CoA carboxylase deficiency Glutaric acidemia type I Isovaleric acidemia Methylmalonic acidemia Propionic acidemia
19.60 24.67 21.61 19.12 19.40 20.11
1.23 6.30 3.24 0.75 1.03 1.74
8.84 9.24 6.74 1.25 7.64 6.24
221,719 266,991 320,623 1,529,600 253,927 322,276
13,914 68,182 48,071 60,000 13,482 27,885
Urea cycle disorders Arginemia Arginosuccinic aciduria Citrullinemia
47.75 62.89 60.81
29.38 44.52 42.44
1.20 3.09 2.42
3,979,167 2,035,275 2,512,810
2,448,333 1,440,777 1,753,719
Amino acidemias Tyrosinemia type I Homocystinuria Maple syrup urine disease Phenylketonuria and variants
32.51 20.44 19.24 17.41
14.14 2.07 0.87 −0.96
4.57 0.625 5.64 0.317
711,379 3,270,400 341,135 5,492,114
309,409 331,200 15,426 −302,839
Disease
*Program start-up and base operation costs (whether screening for one or more diseases) is $18.37 per infant. † For additional detail, please see Supplementary Table S3. ‡ i.e., first row: “3.59” = 3.59 × 10−5 = 0.0000359. § The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) describes the incremental cost required to acquire the benefit of 1 additional LY. It is calculated by dividing the total incremental cost by the incremental LYs gained.
have reported; however, those studies have only evaluated the incremental cost of adding MCADD to an existing screening panel [7,23,34]. The incremental cost of adding MCADD to a screening panel estimated here ($62,798 per LY gained, Table 5) is consistent with another reported estimate of $41,862 per quality adjusted life-year (QALY) gained [23]. Other groups have made different assumptions about the duration of carnitine supplementation; if we make similar assumptions and stop carnitine treatment in all MCADD patients at age 18 [23] or age 5 [7], the ICER of screening for MCADD becomes cost saving, consistent with estimates ranging from $300 per LY gained to cost saving [7,24,25]. Glutaric acidemia type II (GAII) is the least costeffective disease to screen for under base case assumptions. The total incremental cost of screening for just GAII is $2.5 million, but each infant who receives a diagnosis of GAII only gains 0.033 LY. This results in an ICER of $142.5 million per LY gained.
Screening for Combinations of Diseases Diseases were ranked in order of their incremental cost-effectiveness, so that the most cost-effective screening program, including the greatest number of diseases, could be identified. The order and the cost-
effectiveness of adding additional diseases to a screening program are presented in Table 5. Screening for PKU and three diseases will result in five infants each year who will be diagnosed and treated earlier and who will gain a total of 30 LYs. Screening for PKU and 14 diseases will result in 92 LYs gained across the 27 infants who will receive an early diagnosis each year. Screening for all 21 diseases will result in 32 early diagnoses each year and 107 LYs gained across the cohort (Fig. 2b). When we consider the marginal cost-effectiveness of adding diseases to a screening program in which PKU screening has absorbed all the fixed costs, adding the third disease (maple syrup urine disease) costs $15,426 per LY gained. Adding the seventh disease (glutaric acidemia type I) to the bundle costs $48,071 per LY gained and adding the 14th disease (carnitine/ acylcarnitine translocase deficiency) costs $95,000 per LY gained. Although the average cost-effectiveness for PKU and 15 diseases is less than $100,000 per LY gained, the marginal cost-effectiveness of adding the 15th disease (tyrosinemia type I) is $309,409 per LY gained. The least cost-effective IEMs to screen for are those that affect the urea cycle (arginemia, arginosuccinic aciduria, and citrullinemia). This is largely due to a
91
Cost-Effectiveness of Newborn Screening (A) $9,000,000 CIT
ASA
$7,000,000 ARG
$6,000,000 $5,000,000
TYR1
$4,000,000
3-MCC
$3,000,000
HCYS GA2
$2,000,000 PKU
CPT2 CAT LCHADD
CTD
PA
VLCADD
IVA CPT1
MSUD
GA1
MCADD MMA
HMG
$1,000,000 $0
-
2.0
4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 Life-Years Gained per Cohort of 130,000
12.0
14.0
(B) $25,000,000 + GA2 + ARG
Incremental Costs Associated with Screening using MS/MS per cohort of 130,000 babies
Figure 2 Cost-effectiveness plane. (A) Incremental costs and effectiveness for each disease if screened for independently. Each square represents a screening program that screens for only one disease and includes the full cost of the screening technology, maintenance, and technician time. (B) Incremental costs and effectiveness for bundles of diseases. Each square represents a screening program that screens for phenylketonuria (PKU) and subsequent diseases reading left to right (as shown in Table 5 from top to bottom). Incremental costs and life-years gained are expressed per cohort of 130,000 babies. ARG, arginemia (arginase deficiency); ASA, arginosuccinic aciduria; CAT, carnitine/ acylcarnitine translocase deficiency; CIT, citrullinemia (arginosuccinate synthase deficiency); CPT1, carnitine palmitoyl transferase I deficiency; CPT2, carnitine palmitoyl transferase II deficiency; CTD, carnitine transporter defect; GA1, glutaric acidemia type I; GA2, glutaric acidemia type II; HCYS, homocystinuria; HMG, HMG-CoA lyase deficiency; IVA, isovaleric acidemia; MCADD, medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency; MMA, methylmalonic acidemia; MS/MS, tandem mass spectrometry; MSUD, maple syrup urine disease; PA, proprionic acidemia; VLCADD, very long-chain acylCoA dehydrogenase deficiency; LCHADD, longchain hydroxyl acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency; TYR1, tyrosinemia type I; 3-MCC, 3methylcrotonyl-CoA carboxylase deficiency.
Incremental Costs Associated with Screening using MS/MS per cohort of 130,000 babies
$8,000,000
$20,000,000
+ CIT
$15,000,000
+ ASA
$10,000,000 + HCYS + TYR1
$5,000,000
+ IVA + CTD + GA1
PKU
$0 -
low number of LYs gained combined with a high incremental cost associated with treating patients with sodium-phenylbutyrate. Urea cycle disorders frequently result in death before a clinical diagnosis is made. Although early diagnosis leads to enhanced survival in some cases, it also results in an expensive treatment regimen. Combined screening for the urea cycle disorders would cost $17.5 million and only detect 4.5 affected infants each year. Infants detected with urea cycle disorders in one cohort will gain 8.7 LYs. The ICER for screening for the three urea cycle disorders included in this model is $2.0 million. Carbamoyl phosphate synthetase deficiency and ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency are not reliably detected by MS/MS and so were not included in this analysis. We varied each model parameter in a one-way sensitivity analysis (Table 6 and Supplementary Table S4). Birth volume variation across the year may produce
+ 3-MCC + MCADD
+ CAT + CPT2 + CPT1 + LCHADD
+ MSUD + PA + VLCADD + MMA + HMG
20.0
40.0 60.0 80.0 Life-Years Gained per Cohort of 130,000
100.0
120.0
times when three mass spectrometers cannot supply the timely results needed; however, substantial sensitivity analysis on the cost of MS/MS shows that if a fourth ($24.00 per sample) or even fifth ($27.00 per sample) instrument is required, the average costeffectiveness of a screening program including PKU and 14 diseases is less than $85,000 per LY gained. The model is most sensitive to MS/MS specificity. The ICER of screening for PKU and 14 diseases is $173,100 per LY gained when the specificity of the MS/MS test is reduced by just 0.05% from the base case. Four pessimistic scenarios were evaluated in which both the sensitivity and specificity of MS/MS were reduced in combination with increased costs and reduced life expectancy. The incremental cost of screening for PKU and 14 diseases increases to $149,700 when all costs are increased by 50% and the life expectancy of early diagnosed patients are reduced
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92
Table 5 Incremental costs, savings, life-years gained, and cost-effectiveness of adding each disease to a screening strategy in the base case scenario per patient screened
Screening programs
Disease added
Incremental cost of adding the disease to the bundle ($)
PKU PKU + 1 PKU + 2 PKU + 3 PKU + 4 PKU + 5 PKU + 6 PKU + 7 PKU + 8 PKU + 9 PKU + 10 PKU + 11 PKU + 12 PKU + 13 PKU + 14 PKU + 15 PKU + 16 PKU + 17 PKU + 18 PKU + 19 PKU + 20
Phenylketonuria + Methylmalonic acidemia + HMG-CoA lyase deficiency + Maple syrup urine disease + Propionic acidemia + Very long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency + Carnitine transporter defect + Glutaric acidemia type I + Isovaleric acidemia + Medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency + 3-methylcrotonyl-CoA carboxylase deficiency + Long-chain hydroxyl acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency + Carnitine palmitoyl transferase I deficiency + Carnitine palmitoyl transferase II deficiency + Carnitine/acylcarnitine translocase deficiency + Tyrosinemia type I + Homocystinuria + Arginosuccinic aciduria + Citrullinemia + Arginemia + Glutaric acidemia type II
17.41 1.03 1.23 0.87 1.74 1.60 1.52 3.24 0.75 6.06 6.30 1.63 1.55 1.65 1.52 14.14 2.07 44.52 42.44 29.38 0.72
Incremental cost of bundle ($)
Life-years gained adding the disease to the bundle (×10−4)*
Life-years gained for the bundle (×10−4)
ICER of adding the disease to the bundle ($)
ICER of the bundle ($)
17.41 18.44 19.67 20.54 22.28 23.88 25.40 28.64 29.39 35.45 41.75 43.38 44.93 46.58 48.10 62.24 64.31 108.83 151.27 180.65 181.37
0.0317 0.764 0.884 0.564 0.624 0.432 0.359 0.674 0.125 0.965 0.924 0.188 0.167 0.176 0.160 0.457 0.0625 0.309 0.242 0.120 0.00134
0.0317 0.796 1.68 2.24 2.87 3.30 3.66 4.33 4.46 5.42 6.35 6.53 6.70 6.88 7.04 7.49 7.56 7.87 8.11 8.23 8.23
5,492,114 13,482 13,914 15,426 27,885 37,037 42,340 48,071 60,000 62,798 68,182 86,702 92,814 93,750 95,000 309,409 331,200 1,440,777 1,753,719 2,448,333 5,373,134
5,492,114 231,746 117,104 91,545 77,693 72,370 69,424 66,102 65,931 65,373 65,782 66,384 67,043 67,726 68,346 83,045 85,098 138,351 186,564 219,550 220,389
*i.e., first row: “0.0317” = 0.0317 × 10−4 = 0.00000317. ICER, incremental cost-effectiveness ratio.
by 25%. Reductions in specificity have a significant impact on cost-effectiveness estimates in the pessimistic scenarios.
Discussion Changing screening technologies for PKU alone is not cost-effective by currently accepted standards [64]. Nevertheless, a screening program including PKU and 14 diseases would have an incremental cost of less than $70,000 per LY gained. Each disease being screened for would have an incremental cost of less than $100,000 per LY gained and the program would identify approximately 27 babies born with a treatable metabolic disease in Ontario each year. Some diseases will continue to have high mortality rates despite the expansion of newborn screening programs. Proper identification of the cause of death, however, will permit parents to seek genetic counseling. Although many factors contribute to parental decision-making, Read found that 56% of parents who have a child with an inherited metabolic disease wanted prenatal diagnosis in a future pregnancy, 10% wanted to selectively terminate a future affected pregnancy, and 41% were already taking measures to prevent future affected pregnancies [65]. These numbers may vary across religious and cultural groups [66] as well as with the severity of disease observed in the first child [67,68]. Accurate information may, however, aid future decision-making.
Screening has been found to be cost-effective by other research groups [7,20,23,24,69], although the estimated incremental cost per LY gained varies widely. Estimates for the addition of MCADD to an existing screening program range from cost saving to $41,862 per QALY [7,23–25]. One estimate of adding a series of fatty acid oxidation disorders and organic acidemias to a screening panel suggests a cost of $15,252 per QALY [23]. Pollitt et al. estimated the cost-effectiveness of screening for more than a dozen individual IEMs as well as other diseases that can be screened for at birth [7]. In contrast to our study, Pollitt et al. found several diseases, such as methylmalonic acidemia and propionic acidemia, to be more costeffective than we did. Severe forms of these diseases, however, were excluded from their analysis because they were deemed “untreatable.” Others have stopped short of presenting a detailed economic analysis of each IEM because they have found screening for MCADD alone “to be costeffective enough to justify the adoption of MS/MS screening” [23]. In contrast, we believe that the variation in MS/MS sensitivity and specificity to identify other diseases, different costs of treatment, and different potential benefits from early intervention indicate that the addition of each disease requires independent evaluation. Having already justified investment in MS/ MS technology does not indicate that it is economical to use MS/MS for every potential use. This article indicates that, in fact, having already invested in MS/MS,
93
Cost-Effectiveness of Newborn Screening Table 6
Summary of sensitivity results* Marginal cost-effectiveness ratio ($ per LY gained)
Parameter
Base case
Base case result for reference Incidence:
Life expectancy:
PKU + 14
$15,426
$48,071
$36,000–$12,200
$61,700–$44,400
$164,900–$79,300
$109,900–$54,400
Less 10% Less 1% $10–$50
$29,700 $352,700 $15,426–$15,700
$64,500 $572,000 $48,071–$48,000
$897,800 $2595,600 $93,900–$95,100
$221,100 $668,346 $56,300–$113,500
$0
$0–$5,000,000
$15,426
$48,071
$0
$0–$500,000
Cost saving
Cost saving
See Table 2
All reduced 25% All increased 25% All + 20 years (max 78 years)
$13,700
$66,200
$369,100
$112,800
$21,100
$34,700
$73,200
$46,800
$20,600
$33,600
$58,600
$41,300
$16,900
$49,300
$134,400
$73,500
$20,700
$70,100
$694,400
$104,000
$16,000–$31,400
$43,300–$82,000
$78,000–$255,000
$51,400–$130,800
Quality of life for parents during uncertain diagnosis (applies to all IEM cases and 1 LY false positives for 3 months) 1 LY
period 0.99 QALY (annualized) 0.97 QALY (annualized)
Discount rate
0–9%
Pessimistic scenarios: 1. Reduced sensitivity (10%) and reduced specificity (1%) for all diseases $2,610,600 2. All costs increased (50%) 3. All costs increased (50%) and reduced life expectancy (25%) 4. Reduced sensitivity (10%), reduced specificity (1%), increased costs (50%), and reduced life expectancy (25%)
PKU + 7
50–150% of Base Case
See Table 2
Mass spectrometry screening program: All disease sensitivity See Table 3 All disease specificity See Table 3 Costs (total test cost per infant) $18.37 Potential legal costs: If every false negative was reimbursed some value in year 10 If every clinical diagnosis was reimbursed for lack of earlier detection some value in year 10
PKU + 3
Range tested
3%
$95,000
Average cost effectiveness ratio for PKU + 14 diseases $68,346
$95,000
$63,300
$9,100
Cost saving
$407,600
$539,000
$2,610,600
$770,100
$7,400 $20,400
$23,600 $98,900
$48,300 $552,600
$46,600 $149,700
$751,500
$1,687,700
$13,268,800
$2,042,500
*Please see Supplementary Table S4 for additional information. IEM, inborn error of metabolism; PKU, phenylketonuria; QALY, quality-adjusted life-year.
screening for arginosuccinate lyase deficiency, citrullinemia, arginemia, and GAII are not cost-effective even when the costs and benefits are averaged across all diseases in the screening program. This model includes a broad societal perspective, including not only the costs of screening and initial assessment, but also the downstream costs of counseling, education, and long-term tertiary care. This model also assumes that all patients would treat their disease for life; however, most patients on restricted diets relax the restrictions in young adulthood [70]. In Ontario, the current provincially insured benefits for these patients end at age 18 years. Prohibitive cost has also been identified as one barrier to access to treatment with respect to maternal PKU [71]. Restricted diet for life is the only way to prevent neurological deterioration from classical PKU [72–74] and maternal PKU [75]. The incremental cost-effectiveness of dietary treatment for life versus ceasing treatment in young adulthood has not been evaluated.
Our analysis assesses outcomes in LYs gained because there is insufficient information in the literature to generate quality of life adjustments for all the diseases and disease states discussed here. Additionally, there are several unresolved problems using QALY measurements in infants and children [76– 82]. Using QALYs instead of LYs gained may overestimate the cost-effectiveness of screening when the quality of life in the additional years is low. Conversely, using QALYs instead of LYs gained may result in an underestimation of the cost-effectiveness when the number of additional years gained is low but the quality of life in all years is improved. The latter is likely the case with MCADD, for example. Given the lack of peer-reviewed long-term data in this area [83], the reported challenges of generating credible and legitimate quality of life estimates for infants and children [76–82], and evidence that quality of life assessments do not substantially alter the cost-effectiveness of interventions [84], we decided to
Cipriano et al.
94 mediate this limitation through extensive sensitivity analysis. This study relied on the costing information from LHSC, a large academic hospital. Costs provided did not include physician costs, and a fee for service compensation method was assumed. These costs and this compensation scheme may not be representative of other hospitals. Nevertheless, LHSC does have significant experience treating patients with metabolic disease as it is the tertiary care center responsible for patients with metabolic disease from a large geographic region. This study does not consider the potential need for additional investments in infrastructure or human resource training outside of the MS/MS laboratory. The large volume of potential positives that will result from the MS/MS screen may overwhelm the current IEM specialists and treatment support structures. Coordination of communication, follow-up evaluation, and treatment support services may need additional management and investment. There is strong support for the idea that screening would result in longer, healthier patient lives [5– 9,25,26,33,37,40,41,47,48,85–97]. The data in this article, however, relied on several studies with a small number of cases and on expert opinion. The literature on disease incidence, life expectancy, and dependence on social services by these populations is not robust. Robust data is unattainable in an unscreened population and only good program management will eventually reveal the outcomes of screening. Our analysis suggests that in order for an MS/MS screening program to be cost-effective several diseases must be screened for in a single bundle. It is, however, not cost-effective to include all possible diseases in that bundle. The incremental cost of screening per LY gained can be optimized by screening for PKU and nine diseases, including methylmalonic acidemia, HMG-CoA lyase deficiency, maple syrup urine disease, propionic acidemia, very long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency, carnitine transporter defect, glutaric acidemia type I, isovaleric acidemia, and MCADD. Using a threshold of $100,000 per LY gained, we find moderate evidence to support the adoption of screening for PKU and 14 additional diseases [64]. Therefore, consistent with more than half of North American jurisdictions that have already initiate MS/MS screening including British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Nova Scotia, there is evidence to support Ontario’s adoption of expanded newborn screening. Source of financial support: This study was funded by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Acknowledgments: The authors thank Suzanne Ratko and Kathy Corley, London Health Sciences Centre, for their
assistance in describing patient experiences and care, and Dr. Charles Botz, London Health Sciences Centre, for his assistance in estimating costs.
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Supplementary materials are available online at the ISPOR Web site at http://www.ispor.org/publications/value/ViHsupplementary.asp
