Economic evidence supports the cost savings of sputum eosinophil counts to guide the treatment of pediatrics patients with persistent asthma: implications for clinical practice guidelines in middle-income countries

Abstract

Background

Tailoring asthma interventions based on biomarkers could substantially impact the high cost associated with asthma morbidity. For policymakers, the main concern is the economic impact of adopting this technology, especially in developing countries. This study evaluates the budget impact of asthma management using sputum eosinophil counts in Colombia patients between 4 and 18 years of age.

Methods

A budget impact analysis was performed to evaluate the potential financial impact of sputum eosinophil counts (EO). The study considered a 5-year time horizon and the Colombian National Health System perspective. The incremental budget impact was calculated by subtracting the cost of the new treatment, in which EO is reimbursed, from the cost of the conventional therapy without EO (management based on clinical symptoms (with or without spirometry/peak flow) or asthma guidelines (or both), for asthma-related). Univariate one-way sensitivity analyses were performed.

Results

In the base-case analysis, the 5-year costs associated with EO and no-EO were estimated to be US$ 532.865.915 and US$ 540.765.560, respectively, indicating savings for Colombian National Health equal to US$ 7.899.645, if EO is adopted for the routine management of patients with persistent asthma. This result was robust in univariate sensitivity one-way analysis.

Conclusion

EO was cost-saving in guiding the treatment of patients between 4 and 18 years of age with persistent asthma. Decision-makers in our country can use this evidence to improve clinical practice guidelines, and it should be replicated to validate their results in other middle-income countries.

Keywords:

• Sputum eosinophil counts
• Colombia
• persistent asthma

Availability of data and materials

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

All authors declare that they do not have any conflict of interest in this publication.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This study was only based on published data. Thus, ethical approval or consent to participate was not necessary.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the funding of authors.