A systematic review of health economic evaluations of vaccines in Brazil.

BACKGROUND: In Brazil, since 2005, the Ministry of Health requires Health Economic Evaluation (HEE) of vaccines for introduction into the National Immunization Program.

OBJECTIVES: To describe and analyze the full HEE on vaccines conducted in Brazil from 1980 to 2013.

METHODS: Systematic review of the literature. We searched multiple databases. Two researchers independently selected the studies and extracted the data. The methodological quality of individual studies was evaluated using CHEERS items.

RESULTS: Twenty studies were reviewed. The most evaluated vaccines were pneumococcal (25%) and HPV (15%). The most used types of HEE were cost-effectiveness analysis (45%) and cost-utility analysis (20%). The research question and compared strategies were stated in all 20 studies and the target population was clear in 95%. Nevertheless, many studies did not inform the perspective of analysis or data sources.

CONCLUSIONS: HEE of vaccines in Brazil has increased since 2008. However, the studies still have methodological deficiencies.