Table 3.

Changes in Incremental Cost per Quality-Adjusted Life-Year in Key 1-Way Sensitivity Analyses

EIA = enzyme immunosorbent assay; HIV = human immunodeficiency virus; PHI = primary HIV infection.

  1. Doubling the cost of lifetime medical care for patients being observed to CD4 cell counts of 350/μL or seeking care at later stages of infection ($88,100/$95,800 to $176,050/$191,600) increased the cost of expanded testing with the p24 antigen EIA from $30,800 to $34,100 compared with no testing

  2. Doubling the expanded testing and counseling enrollment program costs ($101.47 to $203), increased the cost of the p24 antigen EIA testing option to $49,800 compared with no testing

  3. Increasing the specificity of the HIV-1 RNA assay (0.98 to 0.999) decreased the cost of the HIV-1 RNA assay option to $142,000 compared with the p24 antigen EIA option

  4. Assuming no benefit to sexual partners of patients with PHI, ie, no cases avoided through changes in behavior, increased the cost of the p24 antigen EIA to $50,600 when compared with no testing