Cost-effectiveness of Early Screening Home Semen Analysis in Couples Attempting to Conceive

Abstract

Objective: To study the cost-effectiveness of incorporating home semen analysis in screening for oligospermia and expediting time to evaluation.

Methods: A decision analytic model was built using inputs from the medical literature. The index patient is the male partner in a couple seeking fertility, and entry into the model was assumed to be at the inception of the couple's attempts to conceive via natural means. Three main strategies are described and analyzed: (1) baseline strategy of no testing, (2) utilization of a home semen testing kit, (3) universal testing via a clinic visit and gold standard lab semen analysis. The primary outcome was detection of oligospermia (defined as sperm concentration <15 million/mL). Strategies were ranked by months to evaluation by a male infertility specialist saved. Costs were considered from the patient perspective and were incorporated to determine the incremental cost per month saved to evaluation (ICMS) per 100,000 patients.

Results: Compared to a baseline strategy of no screening, utilizing a home test would save 89,000 months at the incremental cost of $7,418,000 for an ICMS of $45.51. Shifting to a strategy of universal gold standard clinic and lab testing saves an additional 3000 months but at an ICMS of $17,691 compared to the home testing strategy.

Conclusion: Widespread adoption and the early usage of home semen analysis may be a cost-effective method of screening for oligospermia and facilitating further evaluation with an andrology specialist.