OBJECTIVES: To estimate short-term direct and indirect costs of cardiovascular events (CVE) among patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD)

METHODS: The Truven Health MarketScan Commercial Database was used to identify adults (age ≥18-˂64) with ASCVD and a CVE (index event) from 1/1/2014 to 9/30/2015. CVE was defined as an inpatient stay with admitting diagnosis of myocardial infarction (MI), ischemic stroke (IS), transient ischemic attack (TIA), unstable angina (UA), or inpatient or outpatient revascularization (coronary artery bypass graft or percutaneous coronary intervention) without an associated CVE. A 24-month pre-index period was used to assess ASCVD and patients were followed until death or 90 days, whichever occurred first. Short-term (90 day) direct healthcare costs were calculated for all patients. A subset analysis was conducted of patients in the MarketScan Health and Productivity Management (HPM) database to capture indirect costs due to productivity loss due to workplace absence (WA) and short- and long-term disability (STD and LTD). Direct and indirect costs were estimated across type of CVE.

RESULTS: CONCLUSIONS: The direct and indirect costs among ASCVD patients in the 90-days following a CVE are substantial ranging from $40,899 to $80,721. Reducing risk of CVE can potentially lower the direct costs and help employers decrease absenteeism and disability days for their employees.