Heart Disease UK

Avijit Lahiri, Eric Lim & Vijay D. Anand
Health economics, therefore, has to aim its big guns at prevention of diabetes, particularly in the young. The cascade of diabetes as associated with diabetes, starting from high blood pressure (hypertension) to the development of coronary artery disease, unstable angina (acute coronary syndrome), acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) and ultimate development of heart failure (failure of the pump action of the heart) impose a very significant economic burden in developed countries .This includes, not only the cost of treatment – which is life- long – but also the reduced productivity and loss of working time. In the US alone, the direct and indirect economic costs attributable to diabetes exceed $100 billion.
Potentially, the most effective strategies are to limit the causes of diabetes: over-eating and lack of physical inactivity and consequent obesity. However, in those who already have it, a key challenge is early detection of the complications associated with diabetes in order to improve patient outcomes. Also, an exhaustive search for early cardiovascular disease must be the target. The problem is that the usual methods, which doctors currently use to identity ‘silent’ cardiovascular disease – for example, asking about smoking, checking blood pressure and measuring blood cholesterol – are surprisingly imprecise.