Cost-Effectiveness of Screening and Treating Foreign-Born Students for Tuberculosis before Entering the United States.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is considering implementation of overseas medical screening of student-visa applicants to reduce the numbers of active tuberculosis cases entering the United States.

Objective

To evaluate the costs, cases averted, and cost-effectiveness of screening for, and treating, tuberculosis in United States-bound students from countries with varying tuberculosis prevalence.

Methods

Costs and benefits were evaluated from two perspectives, combined and United States only. The combined perspective totaled overseas and United States costs and benefits from a societal perspective. The United States only perspective was a domestic measure of costs and benefits. A decision tree was developed to determine the cost-effectivenes

SUBMITTER: Wingate LT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4414530 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature