Abstract

Introduction: Preeclampsia affects 3-5% of pregnancies and causes severe maternal morbidity. Angiogenic factors are a new diagnostic alternative that improves the prediction of preeclampsia and reduces adverse outcomes. Objective: To evaluate the economic impact of the use of angiogenic factors for the diagnosis of preeclampsia. Method: Cost-benefit economic study at the Puerto Montt hospital. In 2023 there were 203 discharges with hypertensive pregnancy syndrome (6.5% of births), 96 of these (47.2%) were due to preeclampsia; with these figures the usual scenario was modeled. The new scenario with angiogenic factors was designed with two outcomes (trichotomous and dichotomous). The decision tree was built with costs of discharge, laboratory tests, outpatient medical consultation, obstetric ultrasound/fetal Doppler and angiogenic factors Results: The new scenario would reduce hospitalizations due to preeclampsia by 90%, with savings per discharge between $889,879 and $897,804 CLP ($910.2 and $918.3 USD). The final cost of the new scenario would be between $234,554 and $226,629 CLP ($239.9 and 231.8 USD) in the trichotomous and dichotomous model, respectively. Conclusions: Implementing angiogenic factors in a public hospital to rule out preeclampsia in pregnant women would reduce the cost of hospital discharge and the number of hospitalizations.