Costs related to medical treatment for common cardiovascular risk factors

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular disease research
• Health economics
• Public health policy

Background:

• Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) pose a significant global health challenge.
• Hypertension (HT), metabolic syndrome (MS), and diabetes mellitus (DM) are prevalent CVDs with substantial economic impact.
• Understanding the direct and indirect costs of these conditions is crucial for resource allocation and healthcare planning.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the direct and indirect economic costs associated with hypertension (HT), metabolic syndrome (MS), and diabetes mellitus (DM) in the Slovak Republic.
• To compare the pharmacotherapeutic costs across these conditions and their combinations.
• To assess the relative financial burden of direct versus indirect costs.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of data from 1,000 patients randomly selected from the NEMESYS database (total 10,300 patients).
• Calculation of average annual direct pharmacotherapeutic costs for HT, MS, DM, and their combinations, stratified by gender.
• Estimation of indirect costs, particularly focusing on patients with diabetes mellitus.

Main Results:

• Direct pharmacotherapeutic costs varied by condition and gender, with higher costs for diabetes mellitus (approx. 392 Euros/year for men, 384 Euros/year for women).
• Combined diagnoses (HT+MS+DM) resulted in the highest direct costs (approx. 452 Euros/year for men, 455 Euros/year for women).
• Indirect costs represented a substantially greater financial burden, with diabetes mellitus patients incurring the highest indirect costs (approx. 5,227 Euros/year for men, 5,365 Euros/year for women).

Conclusions:

• Direct pharmacotherapeutic costs increase with disease severity.
• Gender-based cost differences were less pronounced in more severe conditions.
• Indirect costs were 13 to 17 times higher than direct pharmacotherapeutic costs, highlighting their significant economic impact.