Economic evaluation of human papillomavirus vaccination in developed countries

With promising efficacy results from randomized control trials of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines and the availability of new screening paradigms, policymakers are being asked to make recommendations and decisions regarding the optimal strategies to reduce HPV infection and disease. Such decisions are increasingly being made with significant input from mathematical and economic models. The demand for modeling has resulted in the publication of numerous mathematical models looking at the cost-effectiveness of HPV vaccination.

To review published models that have been used to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of HPV vaccination in developed countries and highlight points of consensus and disagreement in methods and findings.

This review consists of cost-effectiveness studies published in the peer-reviewed literature before August 2008.

Despite variations in methods, modeling studies are producing consistent conclusions: (1) vaccinating young girls against HPV is likely to be cost- effective; (2) vaccinating boys will most likely not be cost- effective in countries that can reach high coverage rates in girls, and (3) results are most sensitive to the duration of vaccine protection. However, results from analyses examining the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of vaccinating boys when coverage rates are low (< or = 80%) and catch-up strategies have reached conflicting conclusions.