[A cost-effectiveness study on a case-finding program of tuberculosis through screening those suspects with chronic...

To study the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of a case-finding program on tuberculosis (TB) in richer rural areas.

Screening was implemented every three months for a total period of 9 months, in rural areas with high case notification rates. Three villages, each with ten thousand population, were selected to carry out a household screening program. A suspect was defined as who coughed for more than 3 weeks. The suspect was then referred to further diagnosis in county TB dispensary to undergo chest X-ray and sputum test.

Of the 86,168 community population screened, 26 TB patients were identified with 7 of them were smear positive. The ratio of effectiveness vs. cost decreased on the second but slightly increased on the third screening program. The direct costs for the 3 screening programs were 6,312,397 and 1637 RMB respectively. Of total direct cost, 5.9% was paid by TB patients, whereas 35.9% was through financing of the county itself.

The community household screening program could achieve higher case detection rate than passive case-finding approach which could be used in richer areas with low case detection rate in China.