OBJECTIVES There is a high risk of recurring cardiovascular (CV) events in patients post myocardial infarction (MI) despite the current standard of care (SoC). The aim of this study was to estimate the current economic burden of CV events for patients after having an MI event. METHODS A lifetime markov model was developed from a UK healthcare perspective to capture progression post-MI. Recurrent MI, stroke and CV deaths were the major CV events captured. A comparison of cost (2012 UK£) and outcomes in terms of QALYs and life years (LYs) was made between the current scenario of patients receiving SOC and a hypothetical scenario where post-MI patients had no subsequent CV events. All cost and outcomes were discounted at 3.5% per annum. RESULTS The current cumulative lifetime event rate of non-fatal MI, non-fatal stroke and CV death post-MI was estimated to be 0.432, 0.06 and 0.42/patient respectively. The total lifetime cost was estimated to be £6,926/post-MI patient without CV events, which was 31% lower than the current estimated cost of £9,959/post-MI patient. At current rates of CV events there was an incremental lifetime loss of 4.3 LYs/patient and 3.5 QALYs/patient when compared to the hypothetical scenario where patients had no CV events. Considering the prevalence of MI to be 1.5 million, the economic burden posed by MI patients over lifetime if they had no recurrent CV events was estimated to be £10.4 billion versus £14.94 billion with recurring CV events under current SOC. This translated into a 43.8% higher economic burden on healthcare. CONCLUSIONS The subsequent CV events in post-MI patients pose an additional economic burden of 44% on UK healthcare despite the current SoC. This indicates the need to design new interventions to reduce the risk of further CV events in post-MI patients.