Cardiovascular disease costs UK billions a year
By Patricia Reaney
LONDON (Reuters) – Treating cardiovascular disease costs
Britain 17.4 billion pounds ($33 billion) a year, 18 percent of
total healthcare and a higher proportion of health spending
than in any other EU country, researchers said on Monday.
When lost productivity and informal care by family members
are included, the bill rises to 29.1 billion pounds annually.
“Our study is the first to systematically estimate the
economic burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in the UK,”
said Jose Leal, a health economist at Oxford University.
“We estimated the healthcare cost to total 17.4 billion
pounds, which is around 18 percent of UK health expenditure,”
he told Reuters.
Healthcare accounted for about 60 percent of the total
costs while lost productivity was around 23 percent and
informal care 17 percent, according to the research published
in the journal Heart.
Cardiovascular disease is a leading killer in Britain. High
blood pressure, raised cholesterol levels, obesity and smoking
are leading risk factors. People who survive a heart attack or
stroke often need care and long-term medical treatment.
The research by Leal’s team at the university’s Health
Economic Research Center is based on all British residents
diagnosed with cardiovascular disease in 2004. Costs include
medication, emergency care, hospitalizations and community and
social services.
The researchers did not look at why Britain spends a higher
percentage of its total healthcare costs on cardiovascular
disease than other countries. But Leal said different rates of
the illness and the types and costs of medications could be the
reasons.
The costs of treating heart disease and stroke are similar,
according to the findings.
Hospital care, which amounted to 10 billion pounds, was the
costliest component. Expenditure on drugs amounted to nearly 3
billion pounds a year.
The figures showed 69 million work days were lost to
cardiovascular disease in 2004.
CVD is a leading public health problem in the UK measured
by the economic burden of disease,” Leal added in the study.