Heart disease costs the UK £7bn a year and is the country's most expensive illness, according to Oxford researchers.
Dr Mike Raynor and his colleagues at the Institute of Health Sciences at the University of Oxford have found heart disease costs between seven and 10 times more than previous estimates.
It is the most common cause of death in the UK, killing 125,000 people every year.
Using figures from 1999, Dr Raynor and his team found that health care, including prevention, emergency and hospital care, rehabilitation and drug treatment, cost £1.73bn.
But the total bill increased to about £2.42bn when the costs of informal care, provided by friends and family, were included.
A further £2.91bn was lost through reduced productivity.
The research was funded by the British Heart Foundation and is published in the journal Heart on November 20.
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