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Economic analysis of rapid multiplex polymerase chain reaction testing for meningitis/encephalitis in pediatric

Steve Duff1, Rodrigo Hasbun2, Christine C Ginocchio3,4,5

  • 1Veritas Health Economics Consulting, Carlsbad, CA, USA.

Future Microbiology
|January 11, 2018
PubMed

Insights

Rapid syndromic testing for pediatric meningitis/encephalitis is cost-effective. Testing all suspected cases with FilmArray® (FA) offers greater economic benefits compared to standard care or targeted testing.

Area of Science:

  • Infectious Diseases
  • Health Economics
  • Pediatric Medicine

Background:

  • Community-acquired meningitis/encephalitis in children poses diagnostic challenges.
  • Standard diagnostic procedures can be time-consuming and costly.
  • Rapid diagnostic tools are needed to improve patient outcomes and resource allocation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the economic impact of a rapid syndromic testing strategy for pediatric patients with suspected meningitis/encephalitis.
  • To compare the costs of standard care (SOC) with FilmArray® (FA) testing strategies.

Main Methods:

  • A cost-effectiveness model was developed to simulate diagnosis and clinical decisions.
  • Two cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) testing strategies using FilmArray® (FA) were compared to SOC.
  • Resource utilization and associated costs were analyzed.

Main Results:

  • FilmArray® (FA) accurately diagnosed 97% of pathogens causing approximately 75% of cases.
  • Mean cost per case ranged from $17,599 to $22,025.
  • Syndromic testing of all suspected cases yielded greater savings ($3481/case) than targeted testing ($2157/case) or SOC.

Conclusions:

  • Syndromic testing using FilmArray® (FA) for all suspected pediatric meningitis/encephalitis cases is more cost-effective than SOC.
  • Targeted syndromic testing offers savings but less than universal syndromic testing.
  • Implementing rapid syndromic testing can lead to significant economic benefits in pediatric infectious disease diagnostics.
Abstract

Keywords:
FilmArraycostencephalitismeningitis

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