Mifepristone Combination Therapy Compared With Misoprostol Monotherapy for the Management of Miscarriage: A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To assess whether mifepristone pretreatment adversely affects the cost of medical management of miscarriage.

METHODS: Decision tree analyses were constructed, and Monte Carlo simulations were run comparing costs of combination therapy (mifepristone and misoprostol) with monotherapy (misoprostol alone) for medical management of miscarriage in multiple scenarios weighing clinical practice, patient income, and surgical evacuation modalities for failed medical management. Rates of completed medical evacuation for each were obtained from a recent randomized controlled trial.

RESULTS: In every scenario, combination therapy offered a significant cost advantage over monotherapy. Using a Monte Carlo analysis, cost differences favoring combination therapy ranged from 6.3% to 19.5% in patients making federal minimum wage. The cost savings associated with combination therapy were greatest in scenarios using a staged approach to misoprostol administration and in scenarios using in-operating room dilation and curettage as the only modality for uterine evacuation, a savings of $190.20 (99% CI 189.35-191.07) and $217.85 (99% CI 217.19-218.50) per patient in a low-income wage group, respectively. A smaller difference was seen in scenarios using in-office manual vacuum aspiration to complete medical management failures. As patients' wages increased, the difference in cost between combination therapy and monotherapy increased.

CONCLUSION: Mifepristone combined with misoprostol is, overall, more cost effective than monotherapy, and therefore cost should not be a deterrent to its adoption in the management of miscarriage.