Cost-Effectiveness of Alternative Pregnancy Termination Strategies in Mexico City
2009
This study evaluated the health and economic outcomes associated with three alternative first-trimester abortion techniques in Mexico City using a computer-based model to simulate induced abortion and its potential complications. Strategies included alternative modalities for first-trimester pregnancy termination: hospital-based dilatation and curettage (D&C), hospital-based manual vacuum aspiration (MVA), clinic-based MVA and medical abortion using vaginal misoprostol. Outcomes included number of complications, lifetime costs, life expectancy, and quality-adjusted life expectancy.
Assuming all options were equally available, clinic-based MVA was the least costly and most effective. Medical abortion with misoprostol provided comparable benefits to D&C but cost substantially less. Enhanced access to safe abortion was always more influential than shifting between safe abortion modalities.
This study demonstrates that the provision of safe abortion is cost-effective and will result in reduced complications, decreased mortality and substantial cost savings compared with unsafe abortion. In Mexico City, shifting from a practice of hospital-based D&C to clinic-based MVA and enhancing access to medical abortion is most effective.
Cost-Effectiveness of Alternative Pregnancy Termination Strategies in Mexico City
Source:
Hu D, Grossman D, Levin C, Blanchard K, Goldie SJ. Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Alternative First-Trimester Pregnancy Termination Strategies in Mexico City. BJOG 2009; 116 (6): 768-779. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-0528.2009.02142.x
Not open access.