Base case analyses were conducted using the epidemiological, market share, cost, and resource use figures given earlier.
19 Base case analyses were performed with Markov cohort simulation with transitions modelled on an annual basis, though we used first order Monte Carlo simulation to determine the incidence of end stage renal disease over time.
These analyses were carried out using the base probability and utility values in the model, with the incidence of SCID among newborns set to 0. Outcomes measured in base case analyses were the number of TB cases occurring (meningeal, miliary, and other), and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) in each cohort.
To demonstrate the impact of guideline-concordant care, all women in the base-case analyses were assumed to be identified as HIV-infected at their first ANC visit.
While the observation that lung cancer was the most costly cancer overall in the base-case analyses is unsurprising (given its high relative mortality in both genders in Ireland), the emergence of cancers of the brain & CNS as the second most expensive in terms of cost per death in males and females is more interesting.
The full cost-effectiveness acceptability curves for the base case analyses have been included as Supplementary Information.
All base case analyses will be performed based on the 'intention to treat' principle.
Training costs are not conventionally considered in base case analyses, rather, they are typically treated as fixed costs.
In accordance with the World Health Organization's guide to cost-effectiveness analyses, costs and QALYs were discounted at 3% annually for the base case analyses, but further sensitivity analyses were also conducted using a 6% annual discount rate for costs and a 0% annual discount rate for QALYs [ 30, 31].
