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Radon and lung cancer: a cost-effectiveness analysis
E S Ford1, A E Kelly, S M Teutsch
1National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA. esf2@cdc.gov
Objectives:
This study examined the cost-effectiveness of general and targeted strategies for residential radon testing and mitigation in the United States.
Methods:
A decision-tree model was used to perform a cost-effectiveness analysis of preventing radon-associated deaths from lung cancer.
Results:
For a radon threshold of 4 pCi/L, the estimated costs to prevent 1 lung cancer death are about $3 million (154 lung cancer deaths prevented), or $480,000 per life-year saved, based on universal radon screening and mitigation, and about $2 million (104 lung cancer deaths prevented), or $330,000 per life-year saved, if testing and mitigation are confined to geographic areas at high risk for radon exposure. For mitigation undertaken after a single screening test and after a second confirmatory test, the estimated costs are about $920,000 and $520,000, respectively, to prevent a lung cancer death with universal screening and $130,000 and $80,000 per life-year for high risk screening. The numbers of preventable lung cancer deaths are 811 and 527 for universal and targeted approaches, respectively.
Conclusions:
These data suggest possible alternatives to current recommendations.