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Cost-effectiveness of digital cataract assessment
J Dimock1, L D Robman, C A McCarty
1Centre for Eye Research Australia, The University of Melbourne, Victoria. joss@cera.unimelb.edu.au
Purpose:
The aim of this study was to compare costs of digital photograph grading with that of film-based, human grading of the lens in epidemiological studies involving cataract assessment.
Methods:
Cost-effectiveness was measured by establishing the number of participants with ungradeable images and incorporating these lost data into the overall cost per participant for each study.
Results:
The digital grading system cost was A$105000 with operating costs of $2.81 per participant, with 99.4% effectiveness. The film-based, human grading set-up costs were $43000 with operating costs of $18.49 per participant and 90% effectiveness. After examining 3500 people the use of the digital equipment becomes cost-beneficial.
Conclusions:
The high costs of setting up a digital cataract grading system are offset by the low running costs, less ungradeable images and greater accuracy over the duration of a large scale ophthalmic epidemiological study.