Cost-effective strategies for the management of vascular disease

Cardiovascular disease accounts for over 950,000 deaths and an estimated $151 billion in direct and indirect costs. Because of this escalating clinical and financial burden, economic analysis has become essential for the evaluation of preventative therapies for vascular disease. Economic analysis compares competing interventions or management strategies for costs and benefits; more specifically, cost-effectiveness analysis compares cost in financial terms like dollars to measures of effectiveness like years of life saved. Important concepts in the creation of a valid cost-effectiveness analysis include perspective, time horizon, measurement of costs and effectiveness and sensitivity analysis. In patients with peripheral arterial occlusive disease, most morbidity and mortality arises from complications of coronary artery disease. Because coronary artery disease and peripheral arterial occlusive disease commonly occur together and share risk factors, pathophysiology and response to preventative therapy, economic evaluations of preventative therapies for coronary artery disease have relevance for patients with vascular disease. Cost-effectiveness analysis reveals that modification of vascular risk factors like tobacco use, hypertension and hypercholesterolemia improve clinical outcomes at acceptable cost-effectiveness ratios, usually less than $20,000 per year of life saved. More importantly, interventions like smoking cessation or lipid modification in high-risk groups may be cost saving, with treatment costs outweighed by financial benefits. From the patient, clinician and societal perspective, cost-effectiveness analysis supports the aggressive modification of cardiovascular risk factors in patients with peripheral arterial occlusive disease.