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Interrelationship between arterial hypertension, health service costs, therapeutic treatment and physical activity
Lionai Lima Dos Santos1, Jamile Sanches Codogno1, Bruna Camilo Turi-Lynch2
1Department of Physical Education, São Paulo State University - UNESP, Presidente Prudente, São Paulo, Brazil.
Insights
Adhering to hypertension treatment increases healthcare costs, while physical activity lowers them. Combining adherence and activity in hypertensive patients results in similar health costs to active, normotensive individuals.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Public Health
- Health Economics
Background:
- Arterial hypertension is a prevalent condition significantly impacting healthcare expenditures and physical activity levels.
- Understanding the interplay between hypertension management, costs, and lifestyle is crucial for effective public health strategies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between arterial hypertension, healthcare service costs, therapeutic adherence, and physical activity in cardiovascular patients.
- To analyze how treatment adherence and physical activity influence healthcare costs in individuals with hypertension.
Main Methods:
- A cross-sectional study involving 306 patients from a Brazilian hospital.
- Data collected via medical records and interviews, analyzing primary care and hospital costs, treatment adherence, and physical activity.
- Generalized linear models used to assess interrelationships, with statistical significance set at p < 0.05.
Main Results:
- Patients adherent to hypertension treatment but physically inactive incurred higher consultation, medication, and total primary healthcare costs.
- Physically active patients adherent to treatment showed no significant difference in healthcare costs compared to normotensive, physically active individuals.
Conclusions:
- Treatment adherence for hypertension is associated with increased healthcare costs, whereas physical activity is linked to reduced costs.
- The combination of adherence and physical activity in hypertensive patients neutralizes the cost difference compared to normotensive, active individuals, highlighting their importance in management.
Background:
Arterial hypertension is a high prevalence disease that increase healthcare costs and affects physical activity level. This study aimed to analyse the interrelationship between arterial hypertension, health service costs, therapeutic treatment, and physical activity in patients with cardiovascular diseases.
Method:
Cross-sectional study that evaluated 306 patients from a hospital in Presidente Prudente-Brazil. Based on their medical diagnosis, they were classified into multiple groups to access primary care and hospital-related costs variations. Then, using data from medical records and face to face interviews, they were examined on their treatment adherence and physical activity practice. Healthcare costs were accessed using medical records. Finally, the generalised linear model was used to analyse the interrelationship between treatment adherence, physical activity, health care costs and arterial hypertension. The data were analysed with Stata/MP4 16, and a p-value of less than 5% was used to determine statistical significance.
Results:
The group that adhered to the arterial hypertension treatments but were physically inactive presented higher costs with consultation (US$=24.1, 95%CI = 1.90;46,3) medication (US$=56.60, 95%CI = 1.65; 111.5) and total primary health care costs (US$=71.60, 95%CI = 19.2; 123.9) even after adjusting for confounding variables, meanwhile those participants that adhered to the treatments and were physical active did not present difference in healthcare cost when compared to normotensive and physical active participants.
Conclusion:
To be adherent to hypertension treatment were related to higher health care costs meanwhile been physical activity were related to lower health care costs and the combination of both showed that be adherent and physical activity represent the same cost with health than those normotensive and active emphasizing the importance of adherence and physical activity in the hypertensive treatment.
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