Prenatal Screening for Hepatitis BReply

Authors: Jose Alberto Arevalo A Eugene Washington

Publish Date: 1988/06/17

Volume: 259, Issue: 23, Pages: 3408-3409

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Abstract

In Reply  —We appreciate the thoughtful letter by Dr Koplan regarding our study in which we conclude that all pregnant women in the United States should be screened for the presence of hepatitis B virus infectionBased on criteria outlined in the report that Koplan cites1 a program or strategy is costeffective when it results in a cost savings and an equal or better health outcome We show that the strategy of screening pregnant women and subsequently immunizing their atrisk neonates when compared with the strategy of not screening pregnant women results in less costs and fewer cases of liver disease a better health outcome and is therefore more costeffective1 Although inclusion of indirect cost does not preclude the use of the term costeffectiveness when only direct costs are included Fig 3 in our article we still demonstrate that a screening and immunization program of highrisk pregnant women

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