Evaluation of the economic efficiency of educational programs for patients with coronary heart disease and dyslipidemia

Abstract

Background

We investigated the economic efficiency of a one-year training program for patients with stable angina of effort and dyslipidemia.

Methods

We examined 117 patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) and dyslipidemia randomly divided into three groups. The first group of 39 participants was enrolled in an individual educational program (Group 1). The second group of 40 participants participated in group training (Group 2), while 38 participants served as the control group and did not receive either individual or group education (Group 3).

All participants were observed for two years. The outcome variables of interest were:

• (a)

  number of days of disability;

• (b)

  number of emergency ambulance calls due to a worsening of CHD;

• (c)

  lipid parameters including total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HLD-C) and triglycerides (TG).

A special methodology was applied to evaluate the economic efficiency of the educational program.

Results

The one-year educational program led to a decrease in both the number of disability days and emergency calls among participants in Groups 1 and 2. These decreases translated into an overall economic efficiency of US $8235.10 for the two groups. Group 3, which did not receive any specific education, suffered economic losses caused by increased disability days and emergency calls. These losses totaled US $530.08 for Group 3. Lipid levels improved significantly for those who participated in the educational programs.

Conclusion

Educational programs have a positive economic effect. They lead to a decrease in the number of disability days and emergency calls while significantly improving lipid levels.