Medical care expenditures for selected circulatory diseases: opportunities for reducing national health expenditures.
OBJECTIVE
Circulatory system diseases are a significant burden in terms of morbidity, mortality, and use of health care services. This article presents total, per capita, and per condition US medical care expenditures in 1995 for circulatory diseases according to sex, age, and type of health service.


METHODS
Total personal health care expenditures estimated by the Health Care Financing Administration for each type of health care service are separated into components to estimate patient expenditures by age, sex, primary medical diagnosis, and health care service for all diseases of the circulatory system, heart disease, coronary heart disease, congestive heart failure, hypertensive disease, and cerebrovascular disease.


RESULTS
Expenditures for circulatory diseases totaled $127.8 billion in 1995 (17% of all personal health care expenditures), $486 per capita, and $1,636 per condition. Approximately one half of expenditures was for hospital care and 20% was for nursing home care. Heart disease accounted for 60% of circulatory expenditures. Expenditures increased with age and reached 35% of expenditures among persons aged 85 years and older, which was almost $7,000 per capita. These relationships vary somewhat according to the specific circulatory disease, type of health care, and age.


CONCLUSIONS
Expenditures increase with age and circulatory diseases can be expected to command an increasing share of national health expenditures as the number and proportion of the population that is elderly grows. The alteration of lifestyles and medical interventions provide many opportunities to prevent circulatory diseases and to reduce national health expenditures.
Hodgson
T A
TA
Office of Analysis, Epidemiology, and Health Promotion, National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hyattsville, MD 20782, USA. TAH2@cdc.gov
Cohen
A J
AJ
D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000145:classification / Q000191:economics*; D014487:Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S.; D005260:Female; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000145:classification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000191:economics; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009309:National Center for Health Statistics, U.S.; D010548:Personal Health Services / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011306:Prescription Fees / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014481:United States