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Exome Sequencing for Prenatal Detection of Genetic Abnormalities in Fetal Ultrasound Anomalies: An Economic Evaluation.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Kodabuckus, Shahela S 
Quinlan-Jones, Elizabeth 
McMullan, Dominic J 
Maher, Eamonn R 
Hurles, Matthew E 

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: In light of the prospective Prenatal Assessment of Genomes and Exomes (PAGE) study, this paper aimed to determine the additional costs of using exome sequencing (ES) alongside or in place of chromosomal microarray (CMA) in a fetus with an identified congenital anomaly. METHODS: A decision tree was populated using data from a prospective cohort of women undergoing invasive diagnostic testing. Four testing strategies were evaluated: CMA, ES, CMA followed by ES ("stepwise"); CMA and ES combined. RESULTS: When ES is priced at GBP 2,100 (EUR 2,407/USD 2,694), performing ES alone prenatally would cost a further GBP 31,410 (EUR 36,001/USD 40,289) per additional genetic diagnosis, whereas the stepwise would cost a further GBP 24,657 (EUR 28,261/USD 31,627) per additional genetic diagnosis. When ES is priced at GBP 966 (EUR 1,107/USD 1,239), performing ES alone prenatally would cost a further GBP 11,532 (EUR 13,217/USD 14,792) per additional genetic diagnosis, whereas the stepwise would cost a further additional GBP 11,639 (EUR 13,340/USD 14,929) per additional genetic diagnosis. The sub-group analysis suggests that performing stepwise on cases indicative of multiple anomalies at ultrasound scan (USS) compared to cases indicative of a single anomaly, is more cost-effective compared to using ES alone. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION: Performing ES alongside CMA is more cost-effective than ES alone, which can potentially lead to improvements in pregnancy management. The direct effects of test results on pregnancy outcomes were not examined; therefore, further research is recommended to examine changes on the projected incremental cost-effectiveness ratios.

Description

Keywords

Chromosomal microarray, Economic evaluation, Exome sequencing, Fetal anomaly, Cohort Studies, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Decision Trees, Exome, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Genetic Testing, Humans, Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis, Pregnancy, Prospective Studies, Ultrasonography, Prenatal, Exome Sequencing

Journal Title

Fetal Diagn Ther

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1015-3837
1421-9964

Volume Title

47

Publisher

S. Karger AG
Sponsorship
Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Genome Research Limited (PAGE project code S4029)
Department of Health (via National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)) (NF-SI-0616-10035)