Leal José, Luengo-Fernández Ramón, Gray Alastair, Petersen Sophie, Rayner Mike
Department of Public Health, Health Economics Research Centre, Oxford University, Old Road Campus, Oxford OX3 7LF, UK.
Eur Heart J. 2006 Jul;27(13):1610-9. doi: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehi733. Epub 2006 Feb 22.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD), together with its main components, coronary heart disease (CHD), and cerebrovascular diseases, is the main source of morbidity and mortality in the European Union (EU), but to date, there has not been any systematic cost-of-illness study to assess the economic impact of CVD in the EU.
CVD-related expenditure was estimated using aggregate data on morbidity, mortality, and healthcare resource use. Healthcare costs were estimated from expenditure on primary, outpatient, emergency, and inpatient care, as well as medications. Costs of unpaid care and lost earnings due to morbidity and premature death were included in the study. CVD was estimated to cost the EU Euro 169 billion annually, with healthcare accounting for 62% of costs. Productivity losses and informal care represented 21% and 17% of costs, respectively. CHD represented 27% and cerebrovascular diseases 20% of overall CVD costs.
CVD is a leading public health problem. Our study is the first to assess the economic burden of CVD across the EU, and our results should help policy makers evaluate policy impact and prioritize research expenditures. However, because of data unavailability, our study has important limitations, which highlight the need for more accurate and comparable CVD-specific information.
心血管疾病（CVD）及其主要组成部分冠心病（CHD）和脑血管疾病是欧盟（EU）发病和死亡的主要原因，但迄今为止，尚未有任何系统性疾病成本研究来评估CVD在欧盟的经济影响。
利用发病率、死亡率和医疗资源使用的汇总数据估算与CVD相关的支出。医疗保健成本根据初级、门诊、急诊和住院护理以及药物支出估算。本研究纳入了无报酬护理成本以及因病和过早死亡导致的收入损失。据估计，CVD每年给欧盟造成1690亿欧元的损失，其中医疗保健占成本的62%。生产力损失和非正式护理分别占成本的21%和17%。冠心病占CVD总成本的27%，脑血管疾病占20%。
CVD是一个主要的公共卫生问题。我们的研究首次评估了整个欧盟CVD的经济负担，我们的结果应有助于政策制定者评估政策影响并确定研究支出的优先顺序。然而，由于数据不可用，我们的研究存在重要局限性，这凸显了需要更准确和可比的特定于CVD的信息。
