ArticlePloS one2012
How to estimate the cost of point-of-care CD4 testing in program settings: an example using the Alere Pima Analyzer in South Africa.
Article in PloS one, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
38 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The per-patient costs of HIV services in South Africa: Systematic review and application in the South African HIV Investment Case.PloS one · 2019Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Impact of point-of-care CD4 testing on linkage to HIV care: a systematic review.Journal of the International AIDS Society · 2014Pooled it
- Cost and clinical flow of point-of-care urine tenofovir testing for treatment monitoring among people living with HIV initiating ART in South Africa.Journal of the International AIDS Society · 2025Trial
- Initiating antiretroviral therapy for HIV at a patient's first clinic visit: a cost-effectiveness analysis of the rapid initiation of treatment randomized controlled trial.AIDS (London, England) · 2017Trial
- Costs and cost-effectiveness of HIV counselling and testing modalities in Southern Mozambique.Cost effectiveness and resource allocation : C/E · 2022Article
- Cost of running a full-service receiving office at a centralised testing laboratory in South Africa.African journal of laboratory medicine · 2022Article
- Estimating optimal dynamic treatment strategies under resource constraints using dynamic marginal structural models.Statistics in medicine · 2021Article
- Costs of Point-of-Care Viral Load Testing for Adults and Children Living with HIV in Kenya.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Article
- Cryptococcal-related Mortality Despite Fluconazole Preemptive Treatment in a Cryptococcal Antigen Screen-and-Treat Program.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2020Article
- Nut and Bolt Microfluidics with Helical Minichannel for Counting CD4+ T-Cells.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Article
- Comparative cost analysis of point-of-care versus laboratory-based testing to initiate and monitor HIV treatment in South Africa.PloS one · 2019Article
- Article
- Evaluation of Specimen Types for Pima CD4 Point-of-Care Testing: Advantages of Fingerstick Blood Collection into an EDTA Microtube.PloS one · 2018Article
- The value of point-of-care CD4+ and laboratory viral load in tailoring antiretroviral therapy monitoring strategies to resource limitations.AIDS (London, England) · 2017Article
- Rapid, label-free CD4 testing using a smartphone compatible device.Lab on a chip · 2017Article
- Article
- The Cost-effectiveness of a Point-of-Care Paper Transaminase Test for Monitoring Treatment of HIV/TB Co-Infected Persons.Open forum infectious diseases · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Integrating POC CD4 testing technologies into HIV counseling and testing (HCT) programs may improve post-HIV testing linkage to care and treatment. As evaluations of these technologies in program settings continue, estimates of the costs of POC CD4 tests to the service provider will be needed and estimates have begun to be reported. Without a consistent and transparent methodology, estimates of the cost per CD4 test using POC technologies are likely to be difficult to compare and may lead to erroneous conclusions about costs and cost-effectiveness. This paper provides a step-by-step approach for estimating the cost per CD4 test from a provider's perspective. As an example, the approach is applied to one specific POC technology, the Pima Analyzer. The costing approach is illustrated with data from a mobile HCT program in Gauteng Province of South Africa. For this program, the cost per test in 2010 was estimated at $23.76 (material costs = $8.70; labor cost per test = $7.33; and equipment, insurance, and daily quality control = $7.72). Labor and equipment costs can vary widely depending on how the program operates and the number of CD4 tests completed over time. Additional costs not included in the above analysis, for on-going training, supervision, and quality control, are likely to increase further the cost per test. The main contribution of this paper is to outline a methodology for estimating the costs of incorporating POC CD4 testing technologies into an HCT program. The details of the program setting matter significantly for the cost estimate, so that such details should be clearly documented to improve the consistency, transparency, and comparability of cost estimates.
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