Key result
Acute MI linked to a ~79% spike in initial healthcare costs before a decade-long decline.
Why the study?
Acute myocardial infarction is associated with significant long-term morbidity and healthcare expenditure, but detailed data on healthcare utilization and costs over 10 years post-AMI are limited.
Cohort (n=9,548)
No
Absolute Event Rate: 5592% vs 3120%
Healthcare utilization and direct costs peak in the first year following an acute myocardial infarction and remain elevated for certain services up to 10 years compared to baseline.
Post-MI costs peak early then decline over 10 years; observational data leaves open whether targeted interventions can curb sustained utilization.
Objective: Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is associated with significant risk for long-term morbidity and healthcare expenditure. We investigated healthcare utilization and direct costs throughout 10 years following AMI.Methods: A retrospective study included AMI patients hospitalized in a tertiary medical center throughout 2002–2012. Data was obtained from computerized medical records. Hospitalizations, emergency department (ED), primary care and outpatient consulting clinic visits and other ambulatory services, following the AMI and their costs, were compared with the year preceding the AMI.Results: Overall 9548 patients were analyzed (age 66.6 ± 13.9 years, 67.8% men, 48.1% ST-elevation AMI). A significant increase in the utilization of all the evaluated services was observed in the first year following the AMI compared with the preceding year (p < .001 for each) and followed by a decline thereafter (p-for trend < .001 for each) except increased number of ED visits (p-for trend = .014). Annual per-patient costs throughout the first year following AMI (5592€) were significantly greater compared with the preceding year (3120€) and declined subsequently to 3216€ and 2760€ for years 2–5 and 6–10, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that throughout the first half of the follow-up total costs were slightly higher and in the second half similar to the year preceding the AMI. Analysis of the relative costs showed that ambulatory services make up most of the expenditure.Conclusions: Healthcare utilization and economic expenditure peak throughout the first year and decline afterwards. For several services it remains higher for up to 10 years compared with the year preceding the AMI.
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Plakht et al. (2019) conducted a cohort in Acute myocardial infarction (n=9,548). Acute myocardial infarction vs. Year preceding the AMI was evaluated on Annual per-patient costs in the first year. Following acute myocardial infarction, annual per-patient healthcare costs peaked at 5592€ in the first year compared to 3120€ in the preceding year, and declined over the subsequent 10 years.
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