Screening for latent and active tuberculosis infection in the elderly at admission to residential care homes: A cost-effectiveness analysis in an intermediate disease burden area.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Tuberculosis (TB) in the elderly remains a challenge in intermediate disease burden areas like Hong Kong. Given a higher TB burden in the elderly and limited impact of current case-finding strategy by patient-initiated pathway, proactive screening approaches for the high-risk group could be optimal and increasingly need targeted economic evaluations. In this study, we examined whether and under what circumstance the screening strategies are cost-effective compared with no screening strategy for the elderly at admission to residential care homes.

Methods

A decision analytic process based on Markov model was adopted to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of four strategies: (i) no screening, (ii) TB screening (CXR) and (iii) TB screening (Xpert) represent screening for

SUBMITTER: Li J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5749681 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature