Cost effectiveness of prevention and treatment of neonatal respiratory distress (RDS) with exogenous surfactant: what has changed in the last three decades?

In 1993, exogenous surfactant products were emerging as licensed treatments for respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), a leading cause of death in preterm newborn babies. Models of cost-effectiveness of alternative treatments showed surfactant to be an expensive but effective and also cost effective treatment. However the most efficient policy for use of surfactant depended on other parallel 'technologies' such as giving antenatal corticosteroids where preterm delivery is anticipated. Following introduction into clinical practice, questions changed from whether to use surfactant, to when, and which product to use. The early models of cost effectiveness were dependent on the neonatal technology in use, and on the costs of neonatal care and prices of surfactant at the time. Little information was available about long term outcomes. The aims of this paper are to summarise the role of surfactant in the economics of newborn care since the late 1980s; to observe the value of studies published in the early 1990s for current decisions; and to comment on recent and possible future economic studies of neonatal surfactant.