Análisis de Costo Efectividad del Contacto Piel a Piel al Nacimiento, Temprano vs Inmediato, en la Morbilidad Neonatal de Recién Nacidos de Bajo Riesgo.

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of immediate skin-to-skin contact compared with early skin-to-skin contact in the prevalent neonatal morbidity of the low-risk newborn in Colombia.

Methods: A cost-effectiveness analysis was conducted. The perspective of the third payer (health system) was used, and the time horizon was the first month of life. Low-risk term infants were included at birth. The cost estimate was obtained from an expert consensus and a retrospective cohort of neonates hospitalized in a neonatal unit. The effectiveness of the interventions was obtained from a clinical trial and was defined as an avoided case of hospitalization. A decision tree was built, and the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was calculated. Deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses of the effects and costs were performed.

Results: Early skin-to-skin contact was a dominated intervention. In the probabilistic sensitivity analyses, early skin-to-skin contact was not an option to choose in any scenario and it was dominated in 68% of the simulations.

Conclusions: The findings suggest that early skin-to-skin contact is a dominated intervention. From an economic perspective, immediate skin-to-skin contact is a desired intervention for the prevention of prevalent diseases of the low-risk newborn at birth.