Management strategies for abnormal early pregnancy - A cost-effectiveness analysis

OBJECTIVE: To assess the potential effectiveness and costs of 4 commonly used strategies to manage abnormal early pregnancies (AEPs). STUDY DESIGN: A decision,analysis model was constructed to compare 4 strategies to manage AEPs: (1) observation, (2) medical management, (3) manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) and (4) dilation and curettage (D&C). RESULTS: MVA was the most cost-effective strategy, at $793 per cure,for a total cost of $377 million per 500,000 women and a cure rate of 95%. D&C was more effective than MVA, with a cure rate of 99%, but was more expensive ($2,333 per cure, for a total cost of $1.2 billion). D&C cured 20,000 more patients than MVA; however, at a substantial cost of $38,925 per additional cure. With other estimates at baseline, MVA remained more cost-effective than D&C until the efficacy of MVA was < 82% or the cost of D&C was <$240. CONCLUSION: MVA is the most cost-effective strategy for managing AEP and would be appropriate in settings in which resources are limited. D&C remains a reasonable strategy; however, one must spend $38,925 per additional cure. In the United States, MVA would save $779 million per year relative to D&C.