Assessing the cost of cystic fibrosis diagnosis and treatment

J Pediatr. 2005 Sep;147(3 Suppl):S101-5. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2005.08.018.

Abstract

Objectives: To extend previous evaluations of costs of cystic fibrosis (CF) diagnosis and examine key issues in assessing the CF cost of care.

Study design: Costs for CF newborn screening (NBS) including CF multi-mutation testing are analyzed by using data from the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene. Electronic data from 2 Wisconsin CF centers are used to illustrate the complexity of analyzing CF health care utilization and costs.

Results: The current cost-per-newborn of a CF multi-mutation test is 50% higher than testing for a single mutation. Data collection for the cost-of-care study requires a combination of electronic and manual data collection; modeling of cost data requires consideration of any censoring. Hospitalizations are shown to have a large impact on costs and show high variability at the individual level. Sixty-nine percent of children with meconium ileus had some hospitalization versus 56% of children without meconium ileus.

Conclusion: A cost-benefit analysis of CF multi-mutation testing is warranted. The study of health care cost data is complex and utilization varies between children. Individual-level modeling of CF costs must include factors contributing to the severity of the disease and allow for consideration of individual-level utilization, such as the number of hospitalizations.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Cost of Illness
  • Cost-Benefit Analysis
  • Cystic Fibrosis* / complications
  • Cystic Fibrosis* / diagnosis
  • Cystic Fibrosis* / economics
  • Cystic Fibrosis* / therapy
  • DNA Mutational Analysis / economics
  • Health Care Costs / statistics & numerical data*
  • Hospitalization / economics
  • Hospitals, Pediatric / economics
  • Hospitals, University / economics
  • Humans
  • Ileus / economics
  • Ileus / etiology
  • Immunoassay / economics
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Length of Stay / economics
  • Meconium
  • Models, Econometric
  • Neonatal Screening / economics*
  • Neonatal Screening / methods
  • Severity of Illness Index
  • Wisconsin