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. 2024 Jan 12;10(1):36-44.
doi: 10.1093/ehjqcco/qcad031.

Cardiovascular disease burden due to productivity losses in European Society of Cardiology countries

Ramon Luengo-Fernandez  1 , Matthew Little  1 , Alastair Gray  1 , Aleksandra Torbica  2 , Aldo P Maggioni  3 , Radu Huculeci  4 , Adam D Timmis  5 , Panos Vardas  4   6 , Jose Leal  1
Affiliations

Cardiovascular disease burden due to productivity losses in European Society of Cardiology countries

Ramon Luengo-Fernandez et al. Eur Heart J Qual Care Clin Outcomes. .

Abstract

Objective: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death across Europe. We estimated lost earnings (productivity losses) associated with premature mortality due to CVD, and separately for its main sub-categories of coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular disease, across 54 country members of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).

Methods and results: We used a standardized approach to estimate working years and earnings lost due to premature death resulting from CVD across the 54 ESC member countries in 2018. Our population-based approach was based on national data on the number of deaths, employment rates, and earnings by age group and sex. We discounted future working years and earnings lost to present values using a 3.5% annual rate. In 2018, there were 4.4 million deaths due to CVD across the 54 countries, with 7.1 million working years lost. This represented productivity losses due to premature death of €62 billion in 2018. Deaths due to coronary heart disease accounted for 47% (€29 billion) of all CVD costs, and cerebrovascular disease accounted for 18% (€11 billion). Approximately 60% (€37 billion) of all productivity losses occurred in the 28 European Union member states, despite accounting for only 42% (1.8 million) of deaths and 21% (1.5 million) of working years lost across the 54 countries.

Conclusion: Our study provides a snapshot of the economic consequences posed by premature mortality due to CVD across 54 countries in 2018. The considerable variation across countries highlights the potential gains from policies targeting prevention and care of cardiovascular diseases.

Keywords: Cardiovascular disease; Coronary heart disease; Cost; Mortality; Stroke.

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Figures

Graphical Abstract
Graphical Abstract
Figure 1
Figure 1
Productivity losses due to CVD premature mortality per capita in 2018. (A) EU countries. (B) Non-EU countries.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Deaths due to all causes (white bar) and CVD (grey bar) in EU-27 and the UK between 2000 and 2018. Black line represents proportion of all-cause deaths due to CVD. (A) All ages. (B) 15–64-year- olds.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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