A Cost Analysis of School-Based Lifestyle Interventions

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Economics
• Intervention Science

Background:

• A standardized method for costing school-based lifestyle interventions is absent.
• School interventions like HPSF and PAS aim to enhance physical activity and dietary habits.
• Accurate costing is crucial for evaluating intervention feasibility and cost-effectiveness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a universal template for costing primary school-based lifestyle interventions.
• To apply this template to quantify the costs of the HPSF and PAS programs.
• To analyze costs from multiple stakeholder perspectives, including societal, educational, and household.

Main Methods:

• A literature review of cost-effectiveness studies identified relevant cost components.
• Societal costs were calculated by aggregating costs from education, household, labor, and health sectors.
• Cost data for HPSF and PAS were collected for the initial year post-implementation and projected for a steady state.

Main Results:

• Societal per-child costs varied: HPSF was €2.7/$3.3 (Year 1) and €1.0/$1.2 (steady state); PAS was €-0.3/$-0.4 (Year 1) and €-1.3/$-1.6 (steady state).
• The education sector bore the highest costs (€8.7/$10.6 for HPSF, €4.0/$4.9 for PAS in Year 1).
• Household savings significantly offset educational expenditures, with HPSF and PAS showing €-6.0/$-7.3 and €-4.4/$-5.4 in savings, respectively, during Year 1.

Conclusions:

• The developed template effectively facilitated the costing of HPSF and PAS from diverse stakeholder viewpoints.
• Savings in the household sector substantially compensated for costs incurred by the education sector.
• The cost-effectiveness of HPSF compared to PAS hinges on their differential impact on health outcomes.