INTRODUCTION

The active finding of tuberculosis (TB) cases can be cost-effective due to the great potential long-term benefits of preventing new cases, shortening the duration of morbidity and minimizing the risk of death. The objective of the study was to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of three strategies to detect pulmonary TB (pTB) cases among residents of 15 years and older (>15) of Santa Fe city, during one-year period.

METHODS

Based on primary and secondary data sources, and on the design and application of a static decision analytical model to evaluate the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER), active case finding in the community (ACF) and household contact investigation (HCI) were compared with the passive case finding (PCF) used as a regular practice in the context of TB control programs in Argentina.

RESULTS

The number of pTB true cases captured by PCF in a year was 55 for the total population of the city (17 per 100,000), at an average cost of USD 2625.62 per case. The additional benefit of adding the HCI to the PCF was 4 cases, at a cost of USD 9518.62 per additional case detected. The addition of the ACF to the PCF+HCI strategy did not produce an additional benefit in terms of cases, although it had an additional cost of USD 139.26.

DISCUSSION

According to the adopted decision threshold, the PCF+HCI strategy qualified as very cost-effective, in addition to being more cost-effective than the PCF+HCI+ACFstrategy

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