| Summary: | Background/Aim. Cardiovascular disease imposes a burden to society in terms
of mortality, morbidity and economic losses. The aim of this study was to
estimate the economic burden of cardiovascular disease in Serbia in 2009 from
the perspective of the society. Methods. For the purpose of the study
cardiovascular disease was defined by the International Classification of
Diseases, 10th revision, as the following diagnosis: hypertension, coronary
heart disease, cardiomyopathy, heart failure and cerebrovascular disease. The
prevalence, top-down method was used to quantify the annual cardiovascular
costs. Productivity losses were estimated using the human capital approach
and the friction cost method. A discount rate of 5% was used to convert all
future lifetime earnings into the present value. Results. The total direct
costs of cardiovascular disease in 2009 were € 400 million. The results
showed that more than half a million working days were lost due to incapacity
resulting from cardiovascular diseases, yielding the € 113.9 million. The
majority of total costs (€ 514.3 million) were for: medication (29.94%),
hospital days (28.97%) and hospital inpatient care - surgical and diagnostic
interventions (17.84%). The results were robust to a change in 20% of volume
or the unit price of all direct and indirect cost and to discount rate 2% and
10%. Conclusions. The total cardiovascular disease costs in 2009 represented
approximately 1.8% of the Serbian gross domestic product. The results of the
study would be valuable to health policy makers to bridge the gap between
invested resources and needs, in order to improve cardiovascular disease
outcomes. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 175035]
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