American Heart Association estimates CVD-related disease in nearly half of Americans in <20 years
TUESDAY, Feb. 14, 2017 (HealthDay News) — Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is increasing in the United States, with costs expected to double from $555 billion in 2016 to $1.1 trillion in 2035, a new American Heart Association report estimates.
Total CVD costs across all conditions are projected to more than triple among people aged 80 or older. CVD costs are also expected to more than double among those aged 65 to 79, according to the report. The United States will spend $749 billion in direct medical costs treating CVD-related diseases in 2035. That’s more than double the $318 billion now spent annually.
Indirect costs tied to lost productivity also will increase by an estimated 55 percent. That will drive those costs up to $368 billion in 2035 from $237 billion today. On average, a worker with CVD costs their employer nearly 60 hours and over $1,100 more in lost productivity per year than a healthy employee, the AHA estimated.
“Our new projections indicate cardiovascular disease is on a course that could bankrupt our nation’s economy and health care system,” AHA President Steven Houser, Ph.D., associate dean of research at Temple University in Philadelphia, told HealthDay. By 2035, 45 percent of the total U.S. population — about 131.2 million people — will have at least one health problem related to CVD, the AHA report projected.
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