Cost-Utility Analysis of Wide-Field Imaging as an Auxiliary Technology for Retinopathy of Prematurity Care in Brazil

To evaluate the cost-utility of wide-field imaging (WFI) as a complementary technology for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) screening from the Brazilian Unified Health System's perspective. ROP is one of the leading causes of avoidable childhood blindness worldwide, especially in middle-income countries. The current ROP screening involves indirect binocular ophthalmoscopy (IBO) by ROP expert ophthalmologists. However, there is still insufficient ROP screening coverage. An alternative screening strategy is the combination of WFI with IBO. A cost-utility analysis was performed using a deterministic decision-tree simulation model to estimate incremental cost-utility for ROP care. Two screening strategies were compared: (1) IBO and (2) combination of WFI of all eligible preterm infants and IBO for type 2 ROP or worse and for non-readable images. Eligible population included preterm infants