Cost-Effectiveness of Exercise-Based Cardiac Rehabilitation in Chilean Patients Surviving Acute Coronary Syndrome.

Purpose: To assess the cost-effectiveness of 3 models of exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation (CR) compared with standard care in survivors of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) within the public health system in Chile.

Methods: A Markov model was designed using 5 health states: ACS survivor, second ACS, complications, general mortality, and cardiovascular mortality. The transition probabilities between health states for standard care and corresponding relative risk for CR were calculated from a systematic review. Health benefits were measured with the EuroQol 5-dimensional 3-level (EQ-5D-3L) survey. Costs for each health state were quantified using the national cost verification study. The CR cost was estimated with a microcosting methodology. The time horizon was a lifetime and the discount rate was 3% per year for costs and benefits. Deterministic and probabilistic analyses were performed. Structural uncertainty was managed by designing 3 scenarios: CR as currently delivered in a specific Chilean public health center, CR as recommended by South American guidelines, and CR as proposed for low-resource settings.

Results: Cardiac rehabilitation versus standard care showed an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio for the standard model of $722, for the South American model of $1247, and for the low-resource model of $666. The tornado diagram showed higher uncertainty in relative risk for the complications state and for the second ACS state.

Conclusion: Considering a cost-effectiveness threshold of 1 unit of gross domestic product per capita (∼$19 000), CR is highly cost-effective for the public health system in Chile.