Study design (if review, criteria of inclusion for studies)
Systematic review
Participants
Studies about CF Newborn screening
Interventions
Newborn screening
Outcome measures
Cost-effectiveness
Main results
Six health economic evaluations were found. Where included in the comparison, IRT/PAP consistently was the most cost-effective strategy in terms of cost per case detected or life years gained. However, some heterogeneity with respect to cut-off values used and the number of DNA mutations included in the screening strategies was observed, and the methodological quality differed considerably between studies.
Authors' conclusions
The evidence suggested that (i) all screening strategies are cost-effective as compared to the no-screening option and (ii) IRT-PAP seems to be the most cost-effective screening strategy towards CFNBS. Methodological and contextual differences of the individual studies make it difficult to derive strong conclusions from this evidence. Nevertheless, from a health-economic perspective, IRT-PAP should be included as an alternative when deciding on the screening strategy in the implementation of CFNBS.