OBJECTIVES: Chronic heart failure (CHF) is a progressive, debilitating disease where the heart is unable to pump enough blood throughout the body. In a recent trial, LCZ 696, a novel combination drug, showed significantly reduced mortality and heart failure hospitalisations compared with enalapril for the treatment of patients with CHF. The objective of this study was to systematically identify and quantify the non-health sector costs for adults with CHF and in caregivers to patients with CHF. METHODS:  Embase, Medline, Cochrane Library and relevant conferences and HTA databases were searched systematically in July 2014 to identify articles containing CHF populations with any data on indirect or direct cost/resource use that did not fall on the health care budget was collected. There was no restriction on intervention or comparator. RESULTS: In total, seven studies were identified that met the inclusion criteria of the review. Three studies reported direct costs that do not fall on the health care budget and two studies reported indirect costs incurred by heart failure patients and their caregivers. No studies could be considered generalizable to the UK perspective. The societal cost evidence identified in this review included patient out-of-pocket expenses (US, Brazil, Taiwan, Spain), number of work days lost for patients (US, Brazil), hours of care provided from informal caregivers (Iran, Spain, Taiwan, Australia), and sick leave (US, Brazil) associated with hospitalisation for heart failure events. Only scarce information pertaining to direct non-health care sector costs (caregiver time and patient out-of-pocket expenses), and indirect effects on the rest of the economy (sick leave, attendee and patient working days lost) were reported. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, this review highlights the paucity of available societal cost evidence for patients with chronic heart failure. Further studies are needed to address this knowledge gap.