Economic evaluation of meningococcal vaccination with vaccine for serogroups A, C, W e Y: A systematic revision

Abstract

Introduction: Meningococcal disease, caused by infection due to Neisseria meningitidis, have a high burden of disease and entails excess costs for countries. The purpose of this paper is to analyse meningococcal disease, the preventive strategies adopted, and to analyse economic evaluations of the meningococcal vaccine for serogroups A, C, W and Y (MenACWY).

Methods: A narrative literature review and a systematic literature review were conducted, in which these databases were used: B-ON, PUBMED, EBSCO, Cochrane, NHS EED, Science Direct, Scopus and Web of Science. The inclusion criteria were based on the PICO methodology, the articles included were full economic evaluations and excluded partial.

Results: Meningococcal disease still presents a high incidence in the World and in Portugal. The systematic review identified that in seven of the thirteen articles, MenACWY was not cost-effective considering the incidence of disease and the price of the vaccine. The strategies considered cost-effective had high cost-effectiveness thresholds and some even considered cost-effective despite being above.

Conclusion: Incidence of this disease in Portugal is higher than in the European Union, due to serogroups B, C, W, and Y. The cost-effectiveness of the MenACWY is still dubious, so the incidence and the price are important to the introduction in the Portuguese National Vaccination Programme.