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. 2021 Aug 12;16(8):e0254698.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0254698. eCollection 2021.

Preliminary model assessing the cost-effectiveness of preoperative chlorhexidine mouthwash at reducing postoperative pneumonia among abdominal surgery patients in South Africa

Mwayi Kachapila  1   2 , Adesoji O Ademuyiwa  3 , Bruce M Biccard  4 , Dhruva N Ghosh  5   6 , James Glasbey  1 , Mark Monahan  1   2 , Rachel Moore  7 , Dion G Morton  1   8 , Raymond Oppong  2 , Rupert Pearse  9 , Tracy E Roberts  1   2 ; NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Global Surgery; ASOS Investigators; STARSurg Collaborative
Collaborators, Affiliations

Preliminary model assessing the cost-effectiveness of preoperative chlorhexidine mouthwash at reducing postoperative pneumonia among abdominal surgery patients in South Africa

Mwayi Kachapila et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: Pneumonia is a common and severe complication of abdominal surgery, it is associated with increased length of hospital stay, healthcare costs, and mortality. Further, pulmonary complication rates have risen during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. This study explored the potential cost-effectiveness of administering preoperative chlorhexidine mouthwash versus no-mouthwash at reducing postoperative pneumonia among abdominal surgery patients.

Methods: A decision analytic model taking the South African healthcare provider perspective was constructed to compare costs and benefits of mouthwash versus no-mouthwash-surgery at 30 days after abdominal surgery. We assumed two scenarios: (i) the absence of COVID-19; (ii) the presence of COVID-19. Input parameters were collected from published literature including prospective cohort studies and expert opinion. Effectiveness was measured as proportion of pneumonia patients. Deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were performed to assess the impact of parameter uncertainties. The results of the probabilistic sensitivity analysis were presented using cost-effectiveness planes and cost-effectiveness acceptability curves.

Results: In the absence of COVID-19, mouthwash had lower average costs compared to no-mouthwash-surgery, $3,675 (R 63,770) versus $3,958 (R 68,683), and lower proportion of pneumonia patients, 0.029 versus 0.042 (dominance of mouthwash intervention). In the presence of COVID-19, the increase in pneumonia rate due to COVID-19, made mouthwash more dominant as it was more beneficial to reduce pneumonia patients through administering mouthwash. The cost-effectiveness acceptability curves shown that mouthwash surgery is likely to be cost-effective between $0 (R0) and $15,000 (R 260,220) willingness to pay thresholds.

Conclusions: Both the absence and presence of SARS-CoV-2, mouthwash is likely to be cost saving intervention for reducing pneumonia after abdominal surgery. However, the available evidence for the effectiveness of mouthwash was extrapolated from cardiac surgery; there is now an urgent need for a robust clinical trial on the intervention on non-cardiac surgery.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Abdominal surgery patient pathways.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Cost-effectiveness scatter plot (in the absence of COVID-19).
Fig 3
Fig 3. Cost-effectiveness scatter plot (COVID-19 period).
Fig 4
Fig 4. Cost-effectiveness acceptability curve (in the absence of COVID-19).
Fig 5
Fig 5. Cost-effectiveness acceptability curve (COVID-19 period).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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