Long-term resource use patterns and healthcare costs after myocardial infarction in a clinical practice setting: results from a contemporary nationwide registry study

Magnus Janzon, Martin Henriksson, Pål Hasvold, Hans Hjelm, Marcus Thuresson, Tomas Jernberg

Long-term contemporary nationwide data on resource use and healthcare costs after myocardial infarction (MI) in a clinical practice setting are not widely studied, and the aim of this study was to investigate resource use patterns and healthcare costs in patients with MI in a nationwide clinical practice setting. This retrospective cohort study included all patients identified in the compulsory Swedish nationwide patient register with a diagnosis of MI between 1 July 2006 and 30 June 2011. Cardiovascular hospitalization and outpatient visits data from the patient register were combined with data from the cause of death register and the drug utilization register. For a subset of patients, data were also available from a primary care register. Healthcare resource use patterns and annual costs [reported in 2014 euros (€) converted from Swedish kronor (SEK) using the exchange rate €1 = SEK 9.33)] were estimated for the year prior to the occurrence of MI as well as for a maximum follow-up period of 6 years post-MI. The study included 97 252 patients with a diagnosis of MI with a total number of 285 351 observation years. The majority of healthcare consumption occurred within the first year of MI where patients were on average hospitalized 1.55 times, made 1.08 outpatient care visits, and 3.80 primary care visits. In the long term, for the majority of resource use categories, average consumption was higher in the years after MI compared with the year prior to MI. Healthcare costs at 6 years of follow-up were approximately €20 000 of which €12 460 occurred in the first year, and the major part was attributed to hospitalizations. For patients with 6 years of follow-up after MI, healthcare costs were approximately €20 000. The major part of costs occurred in the first year after MI and was driven by hospitalizations. NCT01984307.