Is the treatment of hypertension or dyslipidemia cost-effective?
SA Grover, L Coupal, I Lowensteyn BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The direct health care costs associated with treating hypertension and dyslipidemia continue to grow in most western countries, including Canada. Despite the proven effectiveness of hypertension and lipid therapies to prevent cardiovascular disease, the cost-effectiveness of long-term primary prevention, as currently advocated by Canadian treatment guidelines, remains to be determined. METHODS: Therapeutic efficiency, defined as person-years of treatment per year of life saved (YOLS) and the cost-effectiveness of treatment were estimated for groups of Canadian adults, 40 to 74 years of age. The clinical indications for treatment were based on the Canadian national guidelines in 2005. Analyses focused on those without cardiovascular disease or diabetes using risk factor data from the Canadian heart health surveys and drug data from a national study, the MyHealthCheckUp survey. The expected impact of therapy was based on publis
