PURPOSE: To assess the trends of the cost of cardiovascular disease prevention in France for period 1986-1997.
METHODS: MONICA population surveys conducted in two French Regions (Northern and Southwestern France). The individual costs of antihypertensive and hypolipidaemic drug treatment were established in 4765 subjects for the first (1985-1989) and the last (1995-1997) survey taking into account inflation rates and different daily posologies.
RESULTS: After correcting for inflation, minimum and maximum daily cost of antihypertensive treatment remained stable or decreased in both genders. Minimum daily cost for hypolipidaemic drugs remained stable but maximum costs increased considerably in both genders. This was further aggravated by a doubling of the number of subjects under hypolipidaemic drug treatment between both surveys.
CONCLUSIONS: Individual daily cost of antihypertensive treatment has decreased whereas cost of hypolipidaemic treatment has increased during period 1985-1997. The higher number of subjects on hypolipidaemic drug therapy further increased the national expenditure for this class of drugs.