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Cardiovascular disease

Costs

The burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD) has considerable economic consequences in the UK both directly and indirectly. The impact of smoking, junk food and obesity on the national economy includes treating different forms of CVD as a medical problem (direct cost) and absence from work due to sickness, or the burden on friends and family caring for CVD patients (indirect cost). The overall cost estimate for CVD now exceeds £29 billion per year. 1 ;

The WHO’s global burden of disease project suggests that, in developed European countries, CVD accounts for around 40% of years of life lost in early death (YLLs), 30% of years of life lost in disability (YLDs), and 17% of disability adjusted life years (DALYs). 2

Direct costs of CVD

The cost of treating CVD was estimated at £15.7 billion per year in the UK in 2004. 1 These costs include NHS consultations, diagnostic tests, and treatments for diseases related to CVD, such as coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke & peripheral vascular disease (PVD). The direct cost of treating CVD represents about 20% of NHS expenditure. Additional costs arise in detecting and treating people with an increased risk of CVD because of smoking, hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, diabetes, or obesity.

Statin use has risen exponentially since the early 1990s. The volume of prescribing has increased by 150% in the last 5 years and the cost to the NHS was approximately £600m in 2005. 3 NICE guidance on the use of statins was published in 2006. 4

Following the publication of the CHD National Service Framework in 2000, 5 the number of revascularisation procedures (coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery and angioplasty) also increased dramatically, from 494 per million population in 1999 to 894 by 2003. Costs in 2004 totalled approximately £1 billion. 6

Indirect costs of CVD

The indirect cost of CVD was estimated at around £11.7 billion per year in the UK in 2004. These costs take into account informal care (5 billion) and lost productivity as a result of CVD and CVD-related illnesses, and the deaths of affected workers (6.7 billion). An estimated 244,000 working days were lost as a consequence of CVD. 1

References

  1. Luengo-Fernández R, Leal J, Gray A, Petersen S, Rayner M. Cost of cardiovascular diseases in the United Kingdom. Heart 2006;92:1384-1389. External Link
  2. World Health Organisation. World health report 2003. Geneva: WHO, 2003 External Link
  3. National electronic Library for Medicines. ‘Better Care, better value' indicators: potential £85 million savings from more efficient statin prescribing. NeLM, 2007. Also available at: External Link
  4. National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. Statins for the prevention of cardiovascular events. London: NICE, January 2006. Also available at External Link
  5. Department of Health. National Service Framework for Coronary Heart Disease. London: DoH, 2000. Also available at: External Link
  6. Swanton RH. The National Service Framework: six years on. Heart 2006;92:291-292. External Link