Oxytocin in Uniject Disposable Auto-Disable Injection System versus Standard Use for the Prevention of Postpartum Hemorrhage in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis

Publish Date: June 2015
Author: Andrés Pichon-Riviere, Demián Glujovsky, Osvaldo Ulises Garay, Federico Augustovski, Agustin Ciapponi, Magdalena Serpa and Fernando Althabe
Language: English

Despite strong evidence showing the efficacy of routine oxytocin in preventing postpartum hemorrhage, the proportion of women receiving it after delivery is still below 100%. The Uniject injection system prefilled with oxytocin (Uniject) has the potential advantage, due to its ease of use, to increase oxytocin utilization rates.

The authors aimed to assess its cost-effectiveness in Latin America and the Caribbean. We used an epidemiological model to estimate:
a) The impact of replacing oxytocin in ampoules with Uniject on the incidence of PPH, quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and costs from a health care system perspective; and
b) The minimum increment in oxytocin utilization rates required to make Uniject a cost-effective strategy.

The open access article is available on the PLOS One website.