Cost Effectiveness Analysis of Including Boys in a HPV Vaccination Program in the U.S.
2009
This article reports on a societal-perspective cost effectiveness analysis of including preadolescent boys in a routine human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination program for preadolescent girls. The analysis included girls and boys aged 12 years; interventions included HPV vaccination of girls alone and of girls and boys in the context of screening for cervical cancer.
The authors found that with 75% vaccination coverage and an assumption of complete, lifelong vaccine efficacy, routine HPV vaccination of 12-year-old girls was consistently less than $50,000 per QALY gained compared with screening alone. Including preadolescent boys in a routine vaccination program for preadolescent girls resulted in higher costs and benefits and generally had cost effectiveness ratios that exceeded $100,000 per QALY across a range of HPV related outcomes, scenarios for cervical cancer screening, and assumptions of vaccine efficacy and duration. Vaccinating both girls and boys fell below a willingness to pay threshold of $100,000 per QALY only under scenarios of high, lifelong vaccine efficacy against all HPV related diseases (including other non-cervical cancers and genital warts), or scenarios of lower efficacy with lower coverage or lower vaccine costs.
The authors conclude that including boys in an HPV vaccination program generally exceeds conventional thresholds of good value for money, even under favorable conditions of vaccine protection and health benefits.
Cost Effectiveness Analysis of Including Boys in a HPV Vaccination Program in the U.S.
Source:
Kim JJ, Goldie SJ. Cost Effectiveness Analysis of Including Boys in a Human Papillomavirus Vaccination Programme in the United States. BMJ 2009; 339: b3884. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.b3884