A Cost-Utility Analysis of Neonatal Circumcision
- 1 November 2004
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Medical Decision Making
- Vol. 24 (6) , 584-601
- https://doi.org/10.1177/0272989x04271039
Abstract
A cost-utility analysis, based on published data from multiple observational studies, comparing boys circumcised at birth and those not circumcised was undertaken using the Quality of Well-being Scale, a Markov analysis, the standard reference case, and a societal perspective. Neonatal circumcision increased incremental costs by $828.42 per patient and resulted in an incremental 15.30 well-years lost per 1000 males. If neonatal circumcision was cost-free, pain-free, and had no immediate complications, it was still more costly than not circumcising. Using sensitivity analysis, it was impossible to arrange a scenario that made neonatal circumcision cost-effective. Neonatal circumcision is not good health policy, and support for it as a medical procedure cannot be justified financially or medically.Keywords
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