ArticleBMJ open2023
Cost of inaction: a framework to estimate the economic cost of missing a patient with tuberculosis in the Indian context.
Article in BMJ open, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Accelerating tuberculosis diagnosis in Mozambican prisons using digital chest X-rays with computer-aided detection: a longitudinal, comprehensive health intervention.BMC global and public health · 2026Article
- Can we optimise the TB response amid funding constraints using evidence-based, cost-effective strategies.IJTLD open · 2026Article
- Frontline workers in India's tuberculosis (TB) elimination efforts: a street-level bureaucracy perspective.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Health economic evaluations of diagnostic tests for tuberculosis: a narrative review.Health economics review · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo estimate the economic impact of failure to find and treat tuberculosis disease and prevent tuberculosis infection from progressing to active disease.
designEstimating the economic cost of not finding and treating a patient suffering from tuberculosis.
settingEstimation methodology is developed in the Indian context, as informed by local costs and reported tuberculosis epidemiology.
participantsNo individual participants were included. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome measure is the total cost of patients with drug-susceptible and drug-resistant tuberculosis who are and are not found and treated by tuberculosis programmes, including costs for medications, lost productivity, healthcare services and furthered transmission. We calculate the economic burdens by varying the number of individuals a person sick with tuberculosis infects (10 or 15 people) and the risk of progression to tuberculosis disease if infected (5 or 8%). The secondary outcome measure is the amount saved by finding a patient early or who would not have otherwise been found. All costs are presented in US dollars (exchange rate: 72 Indian rupees/1 US$).
resultsBy finding and treating a patient early before furthered transmission occurs-or stopping progression of tuberculosis infection to tuberculosis disease with preventive therapy-the Indian health system can save US$5502 to US$15 825 and US$5846 to US$25 575, for
conclusionsThese estimates provide crude, lower bounds for the potential costs of not appropriately diagnosing and treating a single patient with active tuberculosis in a timely manner, or preventing a patient with tuberculosis infection from progressing to active disease. The actual financial burden on society is far higher than estimated using this simple, short-term cost-effective analyses. Our results highlight the limitations of tuberculosis costing models to date, and demonstrate the importance of accounting for airborne transmission of tuberculosis.
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