Screen-and-treat strategies for albuminuria to prevent cardiovascular and renal disease: cost-effectiveness of nationwide and targeted interventions based on analysis of cohort data from the Netherlands.

Background: Albuminuria is a marker for renal and cardiovascular (CV) risk, allowing early diagnosis of subjects with elevated renal and CV risk.

Objective: This study aimed to estimate the cost-effectiveness and budget impact of various population-based screen-and-treat scenarios for elevated albuminuria levels (ie, microalbuminuria) in the Netherlands.

Methods: A multistate transition Markov model was developed to simulate the natural course of albuminuria-based disease progression to dialysis and occurrence of CV events.