This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Home IV antibiotics cost-effective measure for managing children with cancer, febrile neutropenia
Teuffel O. Pediatrics. 2011;127:e279-e286.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Inpatient treatment of febrile neutropenia in children with cancer is neither cost-effective nor preferred by patients, according to results of a study published online.
Oliver Teuffel, MD, MsC, and colleagues from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto created a cost-utility model that compared four treatment models for children with febrile neutropenia, including that the child was treated the whole time in the hospital with IV antibiotics; that the child was given IV antibiotics, then given an early discharge; that the child was managed entirely at home using IV antibiotics; or that the child was managed at home with oral antibiotics.
The researchers said home IV antibiotics was the most cost-effective strategy compared with oral antibiotics at home, with a cost of $2,732 vs. $2,757. Any treatment in the hospital increased costs by about $3,000, even if the child was sent home early. As expected, the hospital IV treatment was the least cost-effective, totaling about $15,000.
“Modeling the cost-effectiveness of the four proposed treatment strategies indicated that the substantially higher costs of inpatient management could not be justified on the basis of safety and efficacy considerations or patients’ preferences,” the researchers wrote. “It is interesting to note that health utilities for hospital IV were rated lower compared with home IV therapy but higher compared with [oral antibiotics at home].”
However, the researchers said there was significant patient variability, and the individual patient’s needs should be assessed before considering changing management approaches.
Disclosure: The researchers reported no relevant financial disclosures.
 |
Follow the PediatricSuperSite.com on Twitter. |