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Screening for childhood lead poisoning: a cost-minimization analysis.

D E Glotzer, H Bauchner, K A Freedberg and S Palfrey

Department of Pediatrics, Boston City Hospital, MA 02118.

Decision analysis was used to compare the costs of three screening strategies for childhood lead poisoning: (1) venipuncture; (2) capillary sample with venipuncture confirmation if the blood lead level is elevated; (3) stratification by risk, with venipuncture for high-risk children and capillary sample for low-risk children. Under baseline conditions, the cost of screening by the venipuncture, stratification, and capillary strategies is $22, $25, and $27, respectively. Venipuncture remains the least expensive strategy unless the cost of venipuncture is more than three times that of capillary sampling. The annual cost of a national lead screening program that uses a single venipuncture sample would be $352 million. Initial screening with a capillary sample would cost $432 million, 23% more than venipuncture.

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