Costs and Consequences of Using Interferon-γ Release Assays for the Diagnosis of Active Tuberculosis in India.

ABSTRACT:

Background

There is growing concern that interferon-γ release assays (IGRAs) are being used off-label for the diagnosis of active tuberculosis (TB) disease in many high-burden settings, including India, where the background prevalence of latent TB infection is high. We analyzed the costs and consequences of using IGRAs for the diagnosis of active TB in India from the perspective of the Indian TB control sector.

Methods and findings

We constructed a decision analytic model to estimate the incremental cost and effectiveness of IGRAs for the diagnosis of active TB in India. We compared a reference scenario of clinical examination and non-microbiological tests against scenarios in which clinical diagnosis was augmented by the addition of either sputum smear microscopy, IGRA, or

SUBMITTER: Little KM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4412573 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature