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Newborn Screening for cCMV Infection Cost-Effective
Screening newborns for congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) infection, whether universal or targeted, is a cost-effective practice, according to a comprehensive analysis in the online JAMA Pediatrics.
“Universal screening offers larger net savings and the greatest opportunity to provide directed care. Targeted screening also appears to be cost-effective and requires testing for fewer newborns,” researchers wrote. “These findings suggest that implementation of newborn cCMV screening programs is warranted.”
A major cause of childhood deafness due to missed cCMV infections result in missed opportunities for care, the researchers explained. Their study gauged the cost-effectiveness of universal screening for all newborns as well as targeted screening for newborns who failed their hearing screening. Researchers created models using information from prospective cohort studies of newborn cCMV screening and early hearing programs. They drew cost estimates for testing, treatment, and hearing loss from Medicaid data and published sources.
Across all US newborns, the identification of a single case of cCMV infection would cost between $2000 and $10,000 for universal screening and $566 to $2832 for targeted screening, researchers estimated. The cost of identifying a single case of cCMV-caused hearing loss was an estimated $27,460 for universal screening and $975 for targeted screening.
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Assuming antiviral treatment provides modest benefit, cCMV screening programs could reduce severe to profound hearing loss by between 4.2% and 13% at a direct cost of $10.86 per newborn screened, researchers estimated. When costs related to functionality were included, savings as high as $37.97 per newborn screen were estimated.
An accompanying editorial stated the study’s findings, combined with the benefits of early treatment and intervention, suggest that the time to implement newborn screening for cCMV is now.
“Despite how long we have known how common and destructive CMV can be, little has been done to stop this virus from affecting our newborns,” wrote Gail J. Demmler-Harrison, MD, of Texas Children’s Hospital.
“If adopted,” she added, “universal newborn CMV screening will appropriately rob CMV of its invisible elephant in the living room status and force us to see the pachyderm on our couch.”—Jolynn Tumolo
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