A new international study estimates that cardiovascular diseases cost Ireland more than €866 million in 2003, or €108 for every person in the State.
Cardiovascular diseases - illnesses that affect the heart and blood circulation - cost the EU more than €169 billion the same year, according to the study.
Healthcare accounted for 62 per cent of the total cost. Loss of productivity through death or illness and the economic cost of unpaid care in the home made up the rest.
The study, based on statistics obtained from health authorities in 2003, reports that among EU countries Ireland spent the second-lowest proportion of its healthcare budget on treating heart and circulatory diseases - just 4.4 per cent. This compared with an EU average of 12 per cent and ranked the Republic ahead of only Malta among the 25 EU member states. But the Department of Health in Dublin has questioned the costings used in the study.
Dr Emer Shelley, national heart health adviser, said "there has been rapid expansion in cardiology services in Ireland in recent years so the study does not reflect the current level of expenditure and service provision".
The study estimates that in 2003 cardiovascular diseases accounted for a total of 126 million hospital bed days in the EU, equivalent to 277 bed days for every 1,000 people.
In Ireland, the diseases accounted for 208 inpatient days, 36 accident and emergency visits, 80 outpatient visits and 210 visits to a general practitioner for every 1,000 people. The average death rate from the diseases across the EU was 1.9 men and 2.3 women per 1,000 population while in Ireland the corresponding figure for men and women was 1.7 and 1.6 respectively.
The study by researchers at Oxford University is the first EU-wide investigation into the economic burden of cardiovascular diseases, which include the common conditions of coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular disease.
The study, which was published in the European Heart Journal yesterday, was part financed by grants from the European Heart Network and the British Heart Foundation.
It also benefited from public funding from Britain's National Health Service research arm.