Cost-effectiveness of prescreening versus empirical vaccination for hepatitis A in Egyptian children with chronic liver disease.

The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of anti-hepatitis A virus (anti-HAV) antibodies among 172 children with chronic liver disease, and to calculate the cost-effectiveness of prescreening prior to hepatitis A vaccination. Anti-HAV antibodies were positive in 85.1%. However, seroprevalence of anti-HAV antibodies was 62.1% in children < 5 years and 94.4% in children 5+ years. We conclude that while it is cost-effective to do prescreening before hepatitis A vaccination for children with chronic liver disease aged 5+ years, prescreening might not be cost-effective in those aged < 5 years.