A cost-effectiveness analysis of pre-pregnancy genetic screening for deafness: an empirical study in China

Front Public Health. 2023 Dec 7:11:1081339. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1081339. eCollection 2023.

Abstract

Objectives: This research aims to assess the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of pre-pregnancy deafness screening policies.

Methods: Married couples from Shanghai, Beijing, and Suzhou in China were enrolled. We conducted high-throughput, pre-pregnancy genetic screenings for deafness in women and their partners. We compared the cost-effectiveness of deafness genetic screening with the status quo. The two-step screening (wife then partner) and following treatments and interventions were included in the decision tree model. We conducted a cost-effectiveness analysis based on the decrease in deaf newborns, healthy newborn births, and cost-utility analysis of pre-pregnancy deafness genetic screening separately. Cost, utility, and probability data used in the three models were collected from a survey combined with literature and expert consultants. A 5% discount rate and a series of one-way sensitivity analyses along with a Monte Carlo simulation were used to test the reliability of this research.

Results: Between Jan 1, 2019, and Dec 31, 2021, we recruited 6,200 females and 540 male spouses from community health service centers in Shanghai, Beijing, and Suzhou. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) for reducing deaf newborn births was USD 32,656 per case and USD 1,203,926 per case for increasing one healthy newborn birth. This gap exists because of the overall decrease of newborn births. From the perspective of the whole society, deafness genetic screening is not cost-effective for reducing the overall quality-adjusted life years (QALY) in the population.

Discussion: Pre-pregnancy genetic testing is effective in decreasing the occurrence of congenital deafness. It is a cost-saving measure when compared with the costs of future medical expenditure and income loss for the affected families. However, such screening and preventive avoidance of pregnancy will decrease the population size and QALY. Only post-screening ART with PGT was shown to increase the birth of healthy newborns. Focusing on key groups such as premature births or consanguineous couples may improve the societal effects of screening.

Keywords: cost utility analysis; cost-effectiveness; deafness screening; health in China; pre-pregnancy genetic screening; public health intervention.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • China
  • Cost-Effectiveness Analysis*
  • Deafness* / diagnosis
  • Deafness* / genetics
  • Female
  • Genetic Testing
  • Humans
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Pregnancy
  • Reproducibility of Results

Grants and funding

This study was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (72204156), National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFC1001804), the Shanghai Pujiang Program (2020PJC081), Shanghai Jiao Tong University “Start-up Plan for New Young Teachers” (21X010501094), Soft Science Project of Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Action Plan (22692192000), Shanghai Municipal Education Commission – Gaofeng Clinical Medicine Grant (20152519), and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Translational Medicine on Ear and Nose Diseases (14DZ2260300).