Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2019 Jun;104(6):559-563.
doi: 10.1136/archdischild-2018-316010. Epub 2018 Nov 24.

Economic cost of congenital CMV in the UK

Jenny Retzler  1   2 , Nick Hex  1 , Chris Bartlett  1 , Anne Webb  1 , Sharon Wood  3 , Caroline Star  3 , Paul Griffiths  4 , Christine E Jones  5
Affiliations
Free article
Review

Economic cost of congenital CMV in the UK

Jenny Retzler et al. Arch Dis Child. 2019 Jun.
Free article

Abstract

Objective: Congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) is the most common infectious cause of congenital disability. It can disrupt neurodevelopment, causing lifelong impairments including sensorineural hearing loss and developmental delay. This study aimed, for the first time, to estimate the annual economic burden of managing cCMV and its sequelae in the UK.

Design: The study collated available secondary data to develop a static cost model.

Setting: The model aimed to estimate costs of cCMV in the UK for the year 2016.

Patients: Individuals of all ages with cCMV.

Main outcome measures: Direct (incurred by the public sector) and indirect (incurred personally or by society) costs associated with management of cCMV and its sequelae.

Results: The model estimated that the total cost of cCMV to the UK in 2016 was £732 million (lower and upper estimates were between £495 and £942 million). Approximately 40% of the costs were directly incurred by the public sector, with the remaining 60% being indirect costs, including lost productivity. Long-term impairments caused by the virus had a higher financial burden than the acute management of cCMV.

Conclusions: The cost of cCMV is substantial, predominantly stemming from long-term impairments. Costs should be compared against investment in educational strategies and vaccine development programmes that aim to prevent virus transmission, as well as the value of introducing universal screening for cCMV to both increase detection of children who would benefit from treatment, and to build a more robust evidence base for future research.

Keywords: congenital abnorm; deafness; health economics; infectious diseases; neurodevelopment.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

MeSH terms