The Economic Costs of Cardiovascular Disease Mortality in California, 1991: Implications for Public Health Policy

This study estimates costs of lost productivity in California due to cardio- vascular disease (CVD) mortality. Death records were used to calculate mortality losses including the number of deaths due to CVD, Years of Potential Life Lost (YPLL), and the value of productivity losses. In 1991 there was $5.3 billion in lost productivity due to mortality caused by diseases of the heart and over one billion dollars in lost productivity due to cerebrovascular disease mortality. Racial/ethnic differences in YPLL are pronounced, which likely reflect the long-standing inverse association between CVD mortality and socioeconomic status that has been documented in a variety of populations worldwide. While it is important to effectively retain or develop low risk behaviors in populations, it is equally important to reduce barriers engendered by social, economic, and political patterns that inhibit the compression of CVD morbidity and mortality.