The cost-effectiveness of 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine for older adults : a systematic review

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Despite the current recommendation by the Centre for Health Protection (CHP)of Hong Kong for adults aged 65 years or above to receive 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV23), pneumococcal disease(PD) has become the second leading causes of death in Hong Kong. A relatively new pneumococcal vaccine –13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in December 2011 and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in July 2013 for the prevention of invasive disease caused by S. pneumoniae for older adults aged 50 years or above. It was shown to overcome some of the limitations of PPV23and potentially confer benefits to older adults in the prevention of PD.

OBJECTIVES: To systematically review available literatures to examine whether PCV13 is superior to PPV23 or no vaccination in terms of the cost-effectiveness in the prevention of PD in older adults aged 50 years or above.

METHODS: Two databases, PubMed and ISI Web of Science, were used to search for published journals. The year range of search in these databases was confined to10 years.

RESULTS: A total of 318studies were identified initially and 10studies were included in this systematic review. Studies were conducted in the US, Colombia and European Union (EU) countries e.g. Italy, Germany, Netherlands and Spain. Different perspectives including societal, payer and health system were considered. The use of PCV13 was compared to either PPV23 or no vaccination in older adults aged 50 years or above. The coverage of PCV13 ranged from 42.4% to 70%, conferring an efficacy between 58% and 93.9%. The cost-effectiveness of PCV13 was expressed through the number of avoided cases/deaths for PD including invasive pneumococcal disease(IPD), inpatient and outpatient community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) as well as the incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs),either in cost per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) gained or cost per life-year gained (LYG).Overall, PCV13 is shown to avoid more pneumococcal cases compared to PPV23 or no vaccination and is cost-effective in older adults aged 50 years of above.

CONCLUSION: PCV13 is considered to be more cost-effective in older adults compared to PPV23 or no vaccination based on the current systematic review. Randomized controlled trials and cost-effectiveness evaluations are suggested to be conducted in Hong Kong and Asia-specific regions in order to obtain clinical and economic data of PCV13 in the Asian population. Policy-makers should also consider the effects of serotype replacement on the change in serotype distribution in local setting from time to time so that vaccines with appropriate serotype formulations could be researched.