Mailed Human Papillomavirus Self-Sampling Kits Are Cost-Effective

THURSDAY, March 23, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Mailing human papillomavirus (HPV) self-sampling kits is an efficient outreach strategy for increasing screening rates among women overdue for screening, according to a study published online March 22 in JAMA Network Open.

Richard T. Meenan, Ph.D., from Kaiser Permanente Northwest in Portland, Oregon, and colleagues conducted an economic evaluation of a mailed HPV self-sampling intervention among 19,851 underscreened women (aged 30 to 64 years) enrolled in an integrated U.S. health care system who were randomly assigned to usual care (patient reminders and ad hoc outreach for screening) or usual care plus a mailed HPV self-sampling kit.

The researchers found that baseline incremental cost-effectiveness ratios ranged from $85.84 using wellness visits as the cost basis to $146.29 using Medicare Papanicolaou test-only visits as the cost source. Cost-effectiveness was achieved at lower levels of willingness to pay for an additional completed screening for subgroups of participants aged 50 to 64 years and participants most recently overdue for screening than for other subgroups.

"In this economic evaluation, mailing HPV self-sampling kits to women overdue for cervical cancer screening was cost-effective for increased screening uptake relative to usual care," the authors write. "These results support mailing HPV kits as an efficient outreach strategy for increasing screening rates among eligible women in U.S. health care systems."

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