Costs and Benefits of Targeted Screening for Causes of Sudden Cardiac Death in Children and Adolescents

BACKGROUND: Sudden cardiac death in children is a rare but devastating event. Experts have debated the merits of community-based screening programs using an ECG and targeting 2 potential high-risk groups: school-aged children initiating stimulant medications to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and adolescents participating in sports. METHODS AND RESULTS: Simulation models incorporating detailed prevalence, sensitivity and specificity, and treatment algorithms were built to determine the cost-effectiveness of targeted sudden cardiac death screening. Clinical care algorithms were constructed for asymptomatic children initiating stimulants for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (8 years of age) or participating in sports (14 years of age) and presenting with a positive ECG finding suggestive of 1 of the 3 most common pediatric disorders causing sudden cardiac death and identifiable by ECG. Information to develop simulation model assumptions was drawn from the existing literature, Medicaid fees, and expert judgment. Sensitivity analyses examined parameter ranges to identify influential sources of uncertainty. Outcomes included costs and lost life-years caused by condition-related mortality. Our models estimate that screening for all 3 conditions simultaneously would reduce sudden death risk by 3. 6 to 7. 5 × 10 (-5) with projected life expectancy increases of 0. 8 to 1. 6 days per screened individual. The incremental cost-effectiveness of screening is 91, 000 to 204, 000 per life-year. Sensitivity analysis showed that assumed disease prevalence, baseline mortality, and the relative risk of mortality resulting from stimulant medication use and sports participation had the greatest impact on estimated cost-effectiveness. CONCLUSION: Results based on assumptions favoring sudden cardiac death screening indicated that its cost is high relative to its health benefits.