Fernando De la Hoz-Restrepo

How protective is cervical cancer screening against cervical cancer mortality in developing countries? The Colombian case

BackgroundCervical cancer is one of the top causes of cancer morbidity and mortality in Colombia despite the existence of a national preventive program. Screening coverage with cervical cytology does not explain the lack of success of the program in reducing incidence and mortality rates by cervical cancer. To address this problem an ecological analysis, at department level, was carried out in Colombia to assess the relationship between cervical screening characteristics and cervical cancer mortality rates.MethodsMortality rates by cervical cancer were estimated at the department level for the period 2000-2005. Levels of mortality rates were compared to cervical screening coverage and other characteristics of the program. A Poisson regression was used to estimate the effect of different dimensions of program performance on mortality by cervical cancer.ResultsScreening coverage ranged from 28.7% to 65.6% by department but increases on this variable were not related to decreases in mortality rates. A significant reduction in mortality was found in departments where a higher proportion of women looked for medical advice when abnormal findings were reported in Pap smears. Geographic areas where a higher proportion of women lack health insurance had higher rates of mortality by cervical cancer.ConclusionsThese results suggest that coverage is not adequate to prevent mortality due to cervical cancer if women with abnormal results are not provided with adequate follow up and treatment. The role of different dimensions of health care such as insurance coverage, quality of care, and barriers for accessing health care needs to be evaluated and addressed in future studies.

Effectiveness of the monovalent rotavirus vaccine in Colombia: A case-control study

OBJECTIVE To assess the effectiveness of the monovalent rotavirus vaccine (RV1) to prevent rotavirus diarrhea admissions to emergency departments (ED) in Colombia. METHODS A multicenter case-control study was carried out in six Colombian cities from 2011 to January, 2013. Cases were laboratory confirmed rotavirus diarrhea patients admitted to ED of selected health centers. Controls were patients with non-rotavirus diarrhea. Vaccination status was card-confirmed. Vaccine effectiveness and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated from the conditional logistic regression models using the formula 1-adjusted odds ratio×100. RESULTS 1051 fecal samples were collected from 193 cases and 858 controls. Vaccination history was confirmed on 173 cases (90%) and 801 controls (93%). Among the rotavirus-positive samples with vaccination history, 57% were G2P[4], 9.8% G9P[8], 6% G9P[6]. Median age of cases (17 months) was greater than controls (15 months) (P<0.001), and mothers of cases had lower level of education (P=0.025). The adjusted effectiveness was 79.19% (95% CI, 23.7 to 94.32) among children 6-11 months of age and -39.75% (95% CI, -270.67 to 47.24) among those >12 months of age. Against overnight rotavirus hospitalizations, RV1 provided protection of 84.42% (95% CI, 22.68 to 96.86) among children 6-11 months of age, and -79.49% (95% CI, -555.8 to 51.08) among those >12 months. CONCLUSIONS RV1 provided significant protection against rotavirus hospitalization among children under 1 year of age in the Colombian setting. The observation of lower effectiveness in children >12 months requires further assessment.

Systematic review of incremental non-vaccine cost estimates used in cost-effectiveness analysis on the introduction of rotavirus and pneumococcal vaccines

OBJECTIVE To review the approaches used in the cost-effectiveness analysis (CEAs) literature to estimate the cost of expanded program on immunization (EPI) activities, other than vaccine purchase, for rotavirus and pneumococcal vaccines. METHODS A systematic review in PubMed and NHS EED databases of rotavirus and pneumococcal vaccines CEAs was done. Selected articles were read and information on how EPI costs were calculated was extracted. EPI costing approaches were classified according to the method or assumption used for estimation. RESULTS Seventy-nine studies that evaluated cost effectiveness of rotavirus (n=43) or pneumococcal (n=36) vaccines were identified. In general, there are few details on how EPI costs other than vaccine procurement were estimated. While 30 studies used some measurement of that cost, only one study on pneumococcal vaccine used a primary cost evaluation (bottom-up costing analysis) and one study used a costing tool. Twenty-seven studies (17 on rotavirus and 10 on pneumococcal vaccine) assumed the non-vaccine costs. Five studies made no reference to additional costs. Fourteen studies (9 rotavirus and 5 pneumococcal) did not consider any additional EPI cost beyond vaccine procurement. For rotavirus studies, the median for non-vaccine cost per dose was US

Cost-effectiveness of the introduction of the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine in elderly Colombian population

0.74 in developing countries and US

Producción científica en ciencias de la salud en Colombia, 1993-2003

6.39 in developed countries. For pneumococcal vaccines, the median for non-vaccine cost per dose was US

Burden of Disease and Economic Impact of Dengue and Severe Dengue in Colombia, 2011

1.27 in developing countries and US

Costo efectividad de la vacunación contra influenza en menores de 2 años y mayores de 65 años en Colombia

8.71 in developed countries. CONCLUSIONS Many pneumococcal (52.8%) and rotavirus (60.4%) cost-effectiveness analyses did not consider additional EPI costs or used poorly supported assumptions. Ignoring EPI costs in addition to those for vaccine procurement in CEA analysis of new vaccines may lead to significant errors in the estimations of ICERs since several factors like personnel, cold chain, or social mobilization can be substantially affected by the introduction of new vaccines.

Evaluation of dengue fever reports during an epidemic, Colombia

BACKGROUND Streptococcus pneumoniae causes community-acquired pneumonia, otitis media and meningitis, with higher incidences at the extremes of life. PPV-23 vaccine is widely used in prevention of pneumonia and invasive pneumococcal disease in older adults in developed countries. We developed an evaluation of cost-effectiveness of implementing PPV-23 in Colombian population over 60 years. METHODS The number of cases of pneumonia and meningitis in patients over 60 years and the proportion by S. pneumoniae was estimated based on a review of literature. A decision tree model with a 5-year time horizon was built to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the implementation of the PPV-23 in this population. Direct health care costs of out- and in-patients were calculated based on expenditure records from the Bogota public health system. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios per life saved and per year of life gained were estimated based on the decision tree model. Deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were performed. RESULTS Without vaccination 4460 (range 2384-8162) bacteremic pneumococcal pneumonias and 141 (range 73-183) pneumococcal meningitis would occur among people over 60 years old in Colombia. In the first year, vaccination with PPV-23 at US

Using standardized tools to improve immunization costing data for program planning: the cost of the Colombian Expanded Program on Immunization.

8/dose would save 480 (range 100-1753) deaths due to Invasive and non-invasive pneumococcal disease. Vaccination would results in US

Characterization of rotavirus genotypes before and after the introduction of a monovalent rotavirus vaccine in Colombia.

3400/deaths averted (range US