This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.
Abstract
Objective: Asians who carry the HLA-B*1502 allele have an elevated risk of developing Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) when treated with the antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) carbamazepine (CBZ) and phenytoin (PHT). With a focus on Singapore, this analysis identifies circumstances in which genotyping and targeted treatment with alternative AEDs that do not induce SJS/TEN is likely to be more cost-effective than 1) treatment with CBZ or PHT without genotyping or 2) providing a more expensive drug that does not induce SJS/TEN to all patients without genotyping.
Methods: A decision tree model was developed in TreeAge. The model takes into account costs of epilepsy treatments and genotyping, reductions in quality of life and increased costs resulting from SJS/TEN complications, the prevalence of the risk allele, the positive predictive value (PPV) of genotyping, life expectancy, and other factors.
Results: Compared with no genotyping and providing CBZ to all, genotyping results in an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of $37,030/quality-adjusted life year (QALY) for Chinese patients, $7,930/QALY for Malays, and $136,630/QALY for Indians in Singapore.
Conclusions: Because of the different population allele frequencies of HLA-B*1502 among different ethnic groups, genotyping for HLA-B*1502 and providing alternate AEDs to those who test positive is cost-effective for Singaporean Chinese and Malays, but not for Singaporean Indians. Population frequency of HLA-B*1502, PPV, duration of treatment relative to life expectancy, and costs of alternative drugs are the key drivers influencing cost-effectiveness.
GLOSSARY
- CBZ=
- carbamazepine;
- ICER=
- incremental cost-effectiveness ratio;
- NPV=
- negative predictive value;
- PHT=
- phenytoin;
- PPV=
- positive predictive value;
- QALY=
- quality-adjusted life year;
- QoL=
- quality of life;
- SF=
- seizure-free;
- SJS=
- Stevens-Johnson syndrome;
- TEN=
- toxic epidermal necrolysis;
- VPA=
- valproate
Footnotes
Study funding: Supported by a Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School internal grant.
Supplemental data at www.neurology.org
- Received November 30, 2011.
- Accepted May 1, 2012.
- Copyright © 2012 by AAN Enterprises, Inc.
AAN Members
We have changed the login procedure to improve access between AAN.com and the Neurology journals. If you are experiencing issues, please log out of AAN.com and clear history and cookies. (For instructions by browser, please click the instruction pages below). After clearing, choose preferred Journal and select login for AAN Members. You will be redirected to a login page where you can log in with your AAN ID number and password. When you are returned to the Journal, your name should appear at the top right of the page.
AAN Non-Member Subscribers
Purchase access
Letters: Rapid online correspondence
- Re:HLA-B*1502 genotyping for preventing phenytoin-induced Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis ?
- HLA-B*1502 genotyping for preventing phenytoin-induced Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis ?
REQUIREMENTS
You must ensure that your Disclosures have been updated within the previous six months. Please go to our Submission Site to add or update your Disclosure information.
Your co-authors must send a completed Publishing Agreement Form to Neurology Staff (not necessary for the lead/corresponding author as the form below will suffice) before you upload your comment.
If you are responding to a comment that was written about an article you originally authored:
You (and co-authors) do not need to fill out forms or check disclosures as author forms are still valid
and apply to letter.
Submission specifications:
- Submissions must be < 200 words with < 5 references. Reference 1 must be the article on which you are commenting.
- Submissions should not have more than 5 authors. (Exception: original author replies can include all original authors of the article)
- Submit only on articles published within 6 months of issue date.
- Do not be redundant. Read any comments already posted on the article prior to submission.
- Submitted comments are subject to editing and editor review prior to posting.
