Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 29, 2025
Hydra, a Computer-Based Platform for Aiding Clinicians in Cardiovascular Analysis and Diagnosis
Published on: September 26, 2018
Association Between Cardiovascular Health Status and Healthcare Utilization in a Large Integrated Healthcare System
Irvin Lien1, Howard Moffet2, Jennifer Liu2
1Department of Internal Medicine, Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center, Oakland, California.
Insights
Improving cardiovascular health is linked to lower healthcare costs. Adults with ideal cardiovascular health, especially younger individuals, experienced reduced healthcare utilization and expenses across all age groups.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Health
- Health Economics
- Public Health
Background:
- The American Heart Association's Life's Simple 7 (LS7) provides a framework to assess cardiovascular health (CVH) as poor, intermediate, or ideal.
- CVH is determined by modifiable factors including smoking, body mass index (BMI), physical activity, diet, blood pressure, cholesterol, and fasting blood sugar.
- Understanding the relationship between CVH and healthcare utilization is crucial for public health and economic planning.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the association between American Heart Association cardiovascular health status and subsequent healthcare utilization.
- To analyze healthcare costs across different cardiovascular health categories and age groups.
Main Methods:
- An observational cohort study was conducted using data from Kaiser Permanente Northern California from 2013-2014.
- Adult patients were categorized into poor, intermediate, or ideal cardiovascular health groups based on LS7 criteria.
- Individual healthcare utilization and costs in 2015 were compared across CVH categories, stratified by age.
Main Results:
- The study included 991,698 adults, categorized by age (18-39, 40-64, ≥65 years) and CVH status (poor, intermediate, ideal).
- Healthcare costs increased with age, but were inversely associated with better CVH within each age group (p<0.001).
- Patients with ideal CVH incurred lower healthcare costs compared to those with intermediate or poor CVH.
Conclusions:
- Younger adults with ideal cardiovascular health demonstrated significantly lower healthcare costs.
- Promoting ideal cardiovascular health through targeted interventions may lead to improved patient outcomes and reduced overall healthcare expenditures.
- These findings highlight the economic benefits of investing in cardiovascular health initiatives.
Introduction:
The American Heart Association Life's Simple 7 schema can be used to categorize patients' cardiovascular health status as poor, intermediate, or ideal on the basis of smoking, BMI, physical activity, dietary patterns, blood pressure, cholesterol, and fasting blood sugar. This study examined the association between cardiovascular health status and subsequent healthcare utilization.
Methods:
This was an observational cohort study of adults from an integrated healthcare delivery system-Kaiser Permanente Northern California-that had outpatient care between 2013 and 2014. Patients were categorized by American Heart Association cardiovascular health status: poor, intermediate, or ideal. Individual-level healthcare utilization and costs in 2015 were accumulated for each patient and compared across the 3 cardiovascular health categories and stratified by age groups.
Results:
A total of 991,698 patients were included in the study. A total of 194,003 (19.6%) were aged 18-39 years; 554,129 (55.9%) were aged 40-64 years; and 243,566 (24.6%) were aged ≥65 years. A total of 259,931 (26.2%) had ideal cardiovascular health; 521,580 (52.6%) had intermediate cardiovascular health; and 210,187 (21.2%) had poor cardiovascular health. Healthcare utilization measured by average relative cost per patient increased monotonically across age categories (p<0.001). In addition, cardiovascular health category was inversely associated with lower cost in each age group (p<0.001).
Conclusions:
Adults who were younger and had more ideal cardiovascular health had relatively lower healthcare costs across age groups. Interventions to promote better cardiovascular health may improve patient outcomes and reduce overall healthcare expenditures.
More Related Videos
06:55Inverse Probability of Treatment Weighting Propensity Score using the Military Health System Data Repository and National Death Index
Published on: January 8, 2020
10:21Evaluation of Hydration Status by Bioelectrical Impedance Vector Analysis in Patients with Ischemic Heart Disease Undergoing Exercise Stress Test
Published on: September 22, 2023
Related Concept Videos
01:20Integrated Healthcare System
01:23Assessment of the Cardiovascular System I: Subjective Data
Initial Enquiry
Ask the patient about their primary concern and thoroughly explore all reported symptoms.
Medical History
Investigate past illnesses affecting the cardiovascular system, such as angina, anemia, rheumatic fever, congenital heart disease, stroke, thrombophlebitis, dysrhythmias, varicosities
Inquire about symptoms...
01:11Secondary Healthcare System
01:26Methods Of Healthcare Delivery System
Managed Care System:
The managed care system is designed to control the cost while maintaining the quality of care. The patient's care from admission to discharge is planned by the primary care provider or the case manager, also known as the gatekeeper. In a managed care system, the number of care providers is...
01:29Issues And Trends In Healthcare Delivery System
Cost Containment
Payment for healthcare services has historically promoted adoption of costly and often unnecessary or inefficient...
01:18Introduction To Health Care Delivery System
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) advocates for a patient-centered, effective, safe, timely, equitable, and effective healthcare system. The National Priorities...