HPV vaccination is highly effective and cost‐effective for cervical cancer prevention in women living with HIV in China: A cost‐effectiveness analysis

The presence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection increases the risk of acquiring human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and developing HPV-related adversities. We aimed to estimate the cost-effectiveness of HPV vaccination for women living with HIV in a Chinese setting. A decision-analysis Markov model was developed to estimate the cost-effectiveness of 36 HPV vaccination strategies for women living with HIV aged 18-45 years, from the healthcare system perspective. With the status quo, not vaccinating women living with HIV would lead to 51.99% (51,985/100,000) HIV-related deaths; 35.10% (35,098/100,000) would develop genital warts, 0.36% (355/100,000) develop cervical cancer, and among which 63.66% (226/355) die from cervical cancer over their lifetime (1,601,457 person-years). With a willingness to pay (WTP) threshold of three times gross domestic product (GDP), Gardasil 4 vaccination for all women living with HIV aged 18-45 years was the most cost-effective strategy (ICER = US $32,766/QALY gained). This strategy would reduce genital warts by 35.52% (12,467/35,098), cervical cancers by 12.96% (46/355), and cervical cancer deaths by 12.39% (28/226) over the lifetime of the cohort. If the future domestic Cecolin 9 vaccine is priced at 60% of Gardasil 9, vaccinating all women living with HIV aged 18-45 years with Cecolin 9 would be the most cost-effective strategy (ICER = US $30,493/QALY gained). Improving adherence to antiretroviral therapy for HIV may substantially improve the cost-effectiveness of both Gardasil 4 and Cecolin 9 vaccination.