Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Fecal Microbiota Transplantation for Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: INTRODUCTION: Studies have demonstrated clinical benefits of fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) for treatment of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). This study aimed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of FMT versus standard drug treatment for patients with moderate-to-severe IBS who failed to respond to first-line therapy from the US payer's perspective. METHODS: Two 1-year Markov models were developed to examine the outcomes of FMT versus standard drug treatment in patients with constipation-predominant IBS (IBS-C) and diarrhea-predominant IBS (IBS-D). The primary model outcomes included direct medical cost and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) gained. Model inputs were obtained from literature and public data. Sensitivity analyses were performed to examine the robustness of model results. RESULTS: In the base-case analysis, FMT gained higher QALYs (by 0.0159 QALYs for IBS-C and 0.0166 QALYs for IBS-D) with cost savings (USD 7,835 for IBS-C and USD 9,015 for IBS-D) when compared to standard drug treatment. Key influential parameters identified by one-way sensitivity analysis were response probabilities of FMT and first-line treatment, the utility values of therapeutic response and nonresponse, and FMT cost. The probabilities of FMT to be accepted as the preferred strategy at a willingness-to-pay threshold of USD 50,000/QALY were 99.86% and 99.89% for IBS-C and IBS-D, respectively. CONCLUSION: FMT appears to be cost-effective for patients with moderate-to-severe IBS who failed to respond to first-line therapy from the US payer's perspective.
Source: Digestion
DOI: 10.1159/000549485
Institution: Chinese University of Hong Kong
Language: English
Subfield: Gastroenterology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4416112150