Cost-effectiveness of the children's oncology group long-term follow-up screening guidelines for childhood cancer survivors at risk for treatment-related heart failure.
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ABSTRACT: Childhood cancer survivors treated with anthracyclines are at high risk for asymptomatic left ventricular dysfunction (ALVD), subsequent heart failure, and death. The consensus-based Children's Oncology Group (COG) Long-Term Follow-up Guidelines recommend lifetime echocardiographic screening for ALVD.To evaluate the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of the COG guidelines and to identify more cost-effective screening strategies.Simulation of life histories using Markov health states.Childhood Cancer Survivor Study; published literature.Childhood cancer survivors.Lifetime.Societal.Echocardiographic screening followed by angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor and ?-blocker therapies after ALVD diagnosis.Quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), costs, incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) in dollars per QALY, and cumulative incidence of heart failure.The COG guidelines versus no screening have an ICER of $61 500, extend life expectancy by 6 months and QALYs by 1.6 months, and reduce the cumulative incidence of heart failure by 18% at 30 years after cancer diagnosis. However, less frequent screenings are more cost-effective than the guidelines and maintain 80% of the health benefits.The ICER was most sensitive to the magnitude of ALVD treatment efficacy; higher treatment efficacy resulted in lower ICER.Lifetime non-heart failure mortality and the cumulative incidence of heart failure more than 20 years after diagnosis were extrapolated; the efficacy of ACE inhibitor and ?-blocker therapy in childhood cancer survivors with ALVD is undetermined (or unknown).The COG guidelines could reduce the risk for heart failure in survivors at less than $100 000/QALY. Less frequent screening achieves most of the benefits and would be more cost-effective than the COG guidelines.
SUBMITTER: Wong FL
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4073480 | biostudies-literature | 2014 May
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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