(Hellenic Journal of Cardiology) HJC • 197 Hellenic J Cardiol 2014; 55: 197-203 Original Research Original Research Manuscript received: April 18, 2012; Accepted: May 17, 2013. Address: Kostas Athanasakis National School of Public Health, Department of Health Economics, 196 Alexandras Avenue, 115 21 Athens, Greece e-mail: kathanasakis@ esdy.edu.gr Key words: Hypertension, economic evaluation, cost-effectiveness. A Short-Term Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Hypertension Treatment in Greece Kostas AthanasaKis 1,2 , KyriaKos souliotis 3 , yannis tountas 4 , John yfantopoulos 5 , John Kyriopoulos 2 , angelos HatzaKis 1 1 Department of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, University of Athens Medical School, 2 Department of Health Economics, National School of Public Health, Athens, 3 School of Social Sciences, University of Peloponnese, 4 Centre for Health Services Research, University of Athens Medical School, 5 School of Law, Economic and Political Sciences, University of Athens, Greece Introduction: Hypertension represents one of the major contributors to the disease burden and to healthcare expenditure internationally. The objective of this paper was to conduct a short term cost-effectiveness analy- sis of hypertension treatment vs. a hypothetical “no-treatment” strategy in Greece. Methods: Health-resource use data and clinical outcomes for a cohort of 1453 hypertensive patients in Greece who were prospectively followed for a 1-year period served as the primary data for the analysis. Based on these data, the incremental cost per mmHg lowering in the baseline blood pressure (BP) and the incremental cost per patient that achieved BP control after 1 year of treatment were estimated. Costs were calculated from a social security perspective and are reported in year 2011 values. Results: The average cost per mmHg lowering of baseline BP for the whole study sample was €13.7 ± 14.2, ranging from €20.3 ± 21.4 for Grade 1 hypertension patients to €9.9 ± 4.4 for Grade 3. The average cost per patient that achieved control after 1 year of treatment was €603.1 ± 215, with a range from €496.1 ± 186.6 to €868 ± 258.2 for Grades 1 and 3 baseline BP, respectively. The sensitivity analysis corroborated the re- sults. Conclusions: The present study outcomes compare favorably to corresponding results from the internation- al literature and indicate the clinico-economic value of hypertension treatment in Greece, especially to those that are severely ill. In light of the current financial situation, resource allocation based on evidence from economic evaluation can constitute a core input in the decision-making process for health policy. H ypertension is generally acknowl- edged as one of the primary con- tributors to the international burden of disease. 1 Taking into account that suboptimal blood pressure (BP) is the underlying cause of 49% of cases of isch- emic heart disease and 62% of stroke cas- es occurring each year globally 2 and that at the turn of the millennium 26.4% of the global population was estimated to have elevated BP, 3 6 million lives and 56 mil- lion disability-adjusted life years are lost every year as a result of the disease. In this respect, Greece is no excep- tion: approximately 40% of the adult pop- ulation suffers from hypertension, 4 a sig- nificant proportion of whom are unaware of and, consequently, not appropriately treated for their condition. 5 Hypertension currently accounts for 25% of the total deaths in the country, whereas cerebrovas- cular and ischemic heart diseases are re- sponsible for 17.4% of the total burden of disease. 6,7 The developments of the last 50 years in the pharmaceutical armamentarium against hypertension have brought signif- icant reductions in cardiovascular mor-