title: Burden of disease and cost of illness of atrial fibrillation in Portugal.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Atrial fibrillation is the most prevalent sustained arrhythmia. This paper estimates the burden and cost of illness attributable to atrial fibrillation in Portugal based on demographic and health statistics.
  
  
  METHODS
  Mortality data by cause of death came from the European Detailed Mortality Database of the World Health Organization (WHO). Hospital data were taken from the Portuguese diagnosis-related groups database. The burden of disease was measured using DALYs (disability-adjusted life years), a metric adopted by the WHO. Costs studied included resource use and lost productivity. The burden and cost of illness are those attributable to atrial fibrillation and its main complication, ischemic stroke.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In Portugal, 4070 deaths were attributable to atrial fibrillation in 2010, corresponding to 3.8% of all deaths. In total, the burden of disease attributable to atrial fibrillation was estimated at 23,084 DALYs: 10,521 resulting from premature deaths (1.7% of the total DALYs due to death in 2010 in Portugal), and 12,563 resulting from disability. The total estimated direct costs attributable to atrial fibrillation at 2013 prices were €115 million: €34 million for inpatient care and €81 million for outpatient care. Indirect costs resulting from lost production due to disability were estimated at €25 million.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Atrial fibrillation has an important social impact in Portugal due to its associated mortality and morbidity, and was responsible in 2013 for a total cost of €140 million, about 0.08% of gross domestic product.
authors.affiliation: Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Lisboa, Portugal. Electronic address: mig@ucp.pt.
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gouveia
authors.affiliation: Centro de Estudos de Medicina Baseada na Evidência, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal; Laboratório de Farmacologia Clínica e Terapêutica, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal; Unidade de Farmacologia Clínica, Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Lisboa, Portugal.
authors.forename: João
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.affiliation: Centro de Estudos de Medicina Baseada na Evidência, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal; Laboratório de Farmacologia Clínica e Terapêutica, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal.
authors.forename: Joana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Alarcão
authors.affiliation: Centro de Estudos de Medicina Baseada na Evidência, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal.
authors.forename: Margarida
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Augusto
authors.affiliation: Centro de Estudos de Medicina Baseada na Evidência, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal; Serviço de Cardiologia, Hospital Garcia de Orta, Almada, Portugal.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Caldeira
authors.affiliation: Centro de Estudos de Medicina Baseada na Evidência, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal; Serviço de Medicina Interna, Hospital Lisboa Norte EPE, Lisboa, Portugal.
authors.forename: Luís
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pinheiro
authors.affiliation: Centro de Estudos de Medicina Baseada na Evidência, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal.
authors.forename: António
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vaz Carneiro
authors.affiliation: Centro de Estudos de Medicina Baseada na Evidência, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal; Laboratório de Farmacologia Clínica e Terapêutica, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal.
authors.forename: Margarida
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Borges
mesh_terms: D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000191:economics*; D017281:Cost of Illness; D006801:Humans; D011174:Portugal
keywords: Anos de vida perdidos ajustados por incapacidade; Atrial fibrillation; Burden of disease; Cerebrovascular disease; Cost of illness; Custo e carga da doença; Disability‐adjusted life years; Doença cerebrovascular; Fibrilhação auricular