Cost-effectiveness of contact screening strategies for tuberculosis among high-school adolescents in South Korea.

BACKGROUND: Effective latent tuberculous infection (LTBI) control among adolescents is a critical component of tuberculosis (TB) elimination in Korea.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the cost-effectiveness of the following contact screening strategies for LTBI among high-school adolescents after TB outbreaks: QuantiFERON®-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT), the tuberculin skin test (TST), or TST/QFT-GIT (two-step strategy).

METHOD: The costs of post-TB outbreak screening strategies were calculated using a mixed (top-down and bottom-up) cost analysis method and expressed in 2015 US dollars. Cost-effectiveness was evaluated using a decision analysis model from the health system perspective, comparing cumulative health care costs and the total number of TB cases averted.

RESULTS: In a hypothetical cohort of 1000 students, screening using the TST-alone strategy averted 1.6 TB cases at a total cost of US$52 566. The QFT-GIT-alone strategy helped avert 2.0 TB cases, but was associated with a much higher total cost (US$108 435), resulting in an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of US$140 933/TB case averted. The two-step TST/QFT-GIT strategy was worse than the TST-alone strategy, averting 1.3 TB cases at US$75 267.

CONCLUSION: The TST-alone strategy was the most cost-effective; the QFT-GIT-alone strategy averted the greatest number of TB cases but incurred the highest cost in contact investigation for school TB outbreaks.