ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To estimate the costs of healthcare resource consumption in the year preceding and the year following a myocardial infarction (MI). PATIENTS AND METHODS: A historical cohort of patients experiencing an MI in France between 2007 and 2011 was extracted from the échantillon généraliste de bénéficiaires, a 1/97th sample of all beneficiaries of public health insurance in France. RESULTS: A total of 1920 patients experiencing an MI were identified. Two-thirds were men and the mean age was 67 years; 20.6% had diabetes, 37.6% hypercholesterolaemia and 82.4% hypertension. From a societal perspective, the annual costs of medical consumption related to hospitalisations increased from 4548 before the MI to 6470 in the following year. Costs of community care rose from 2932 to 6208. This increase concerned all components of community healthcare: costs associated with medical transportation increased fourfold, those associated with consultations and laboratory tests tripled, medication costs doubled and costs of paramedical services also increased, but to a lesser extent. It should be noted that the cost of hospitalisation for the index MI ( 5876) is not included in the above costs. CONCLUSION: From a society perspective, the cost of healthcare resource consumption increased threefold in the year following an MI.
