The Cost-Effectiveness of Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Banding in the Morbidly Obese Adult Population of Australia

BACKGROUND: To examine the cost-effectiveness of providing laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB) surgery to all morbidly obese adults in the 2003 Australian population. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Analyzed costs and benefits associated with two intervention scenarios, one providing LAGB surgery to individuals with BMI >40 and another to individuals with BMI >35, with each compared relative to a ‘do nothing’ scenario. A multi-state, multiple cohort Markov model was used to determine the cost-effectiveness of LAGB surgery over the lifetime of each cohort. All costs and health outcomes were assessed from an Australian health sector perspective and were discounted using a 3% annual rate. Uncertainty and sensitivity analyzes were conducted to test the robustness of model outcomes. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) were measured in 2003 Australian dollars per disability adjusted life year (DALY) averted. The ICER for the scenario providing LAGB surgery to all individuals with a BMI >40 was dominant [95% CI: dominant - $588] meaning that the intervention led to both improved health and cost savings. The ICER when providing surgery to those with a BMI >35 was $2 154/DALY averted [95% CI: dominant - $6 033]. Results were highly sensitive to changes in the likelihood of long-term complications. CONCLUSION: LAGB surgery is highly cost-effective when compared to the $50 000/DALY threshold for cost-effectiveness used in Australia. LAGB surgery also ranks highly in terms of cost-effectiveness when compared to other population-level interventions for weight loss in Australia. The results of this study are in line with other economic evaluations on LAGB surgery. This study recommends that the Australian federal government provide a full subsidy for LAGB surgery to morbidly obese Australians with a BMI >40.