Families affected by heart disease in India spend over a quarter of income on healthcare, report shows

Households in India affected by cardiovascular disease spent 27.2% of their total household budget on out-of-pocket healthcare expenses compared with 10.7% in the matched controls over a 15 day reference period (P<0.01), a new survey has shown.

The study, which was published in Tropical Medicine and International Health,1 used information from India’s National Sample Survey Office from 2004 to estimate the economic burden of cardiovascular disease in Indian homes.

The study also showed that hospital admissions from households that had a family member with heart disease cost 4.5 times more each year than admissions from families that had no heart disease. …