Background: To further reduce the risk of hepatitis B virus (HBV) transmission by blood transfusion, nucleic acid testing (NAT) can be employed. The aim of this study is to estimate the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) in the Netherlands of employing a triplex NAT assay aimed at HBV nucleic acid detection in individual donations (ID-NAT) or in minipools of 6 donations (MP-6-NAT), compared to a triplex NAT assay in minipools of 24 donations (MP-24-NAT).
Study design and methods: A mathematical model was made of the whole transfusion chain from donors to recipients of blood in the Netherlands. The annual number of avoided HBV transmissions was estimated with the window-period incidence model. The natural history of a HBV infection in recipients is described by a Markov model.
Results: The ICER of adding HBV MP-6-NAT or HBV ID-NAT in the Netherlands is Euro303,218 (95% confidence interval [CI], Euro233,001-Euro408,388) and Euro518,995 (95% CI, Euro399,359-Euro699,120) per quality-adjusted life-year, respectively. The ICER strongly correlates with the age of transfusion recipients.
Conclusion: The cost-effectiveness of additional HBV NAT is limited by the limited loss of life caused by HBV transmission. Despite a higher effectiveness, HBV ID-NAT is less cost-effective than MP-6-NAT due to higher costs. A future equivalent participation of immigrants from HBV-endemic countries in the donor base renders HBV NAT only slightly more cost-effective.