A ‘disquieting plateau’: Healthcare costs are up, but survival among heart patients stays the same
The U.S. cardiovascular mortality rate decreased dramatically from 2000 to 2011. Since then, however, it has remained relatively unchanged, according to new findings published in JACC.[1]
“Cardiovascular mortality in the United States declined steadily for more than five decades; yet, progress slowed beginning around 2010,” wrote first author Adith S. Arun, BS, a research fellow with Yale New Haven Hospital and Yale School of Medicine, and colleagues. “Recent work has described this pattern as a ‘disquieting plateau,’ a period in which gains in cardiovascular outcomes have stalled despite major advances in therapies and an expanding clinical armamentarium. At the same time, national healthcare spending has reached historic levels.”
To learn more, Arun et al. reviewed U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data from 2000 to 2022. Overall, the age-adjusted mortality rate (AAMR) for cardiovascular disease (CVD) decreased from 343.1 per 100,000 in 2000 to 228.6 per 100,000 in 2011. From 2011 to 2022, on the other hand, the AAMR barely decreased at all, landing at 224.3 per 100,000.
At this same time, the group noted, the cost of CVD care skyrocketed from $70.5 billion in 2000 to $220.2 billion in 2022. That figure did increase significantly from 2019 to 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“These trends provide quantitative context for the disquieting plateau in cardiovascular outcomes that has emerged over the past decade,” the authors wrote. “The divergence between rising spending and stagnating mortality raises fundamental questions about how resources are being deployed and what is needed to resume progress in cardiovascular health. The precise reason for the plateau has yet to be identified.”
The researchers did note that the growth in spending is somewhat expected due to an aging patient population and the high costs associated with emerging technologies. At the same time, they wrote, “the value of these technologies depends on both their clinical effectiveness and their pricing.”
The group also highlighted the importance of prevention efforts and lifestyle interventions as health systems look to keep healthcare costs down and potentially get cardiovascular mortality to start dropping again.
Click here to read the full study in JACC, the flagship journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Michael has more than 19 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.