Estimating the Potential Health Care Cost-Savings from a Flax-Based Treatment for Hypertension

Hypertension contributes to the increase in health care spending in Canada through two primary
mechanisms. First, it directly increases costs, as individuals with hypertension require medical care to manage the condition. Second, it indirectly raises expenses by serving as a risk factor
for numerous chronic diseases, leading to increased health care utilization among those
affected. Therefore, reducing hypertension prevalence could alleviate its resulting strain on the
Canadian health care system. Clinical trials have demonstrated that daily flaxseed consumption
effectively lowers both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. This study employs a four-step
cost-of-illness analysis to estimate the potential health care cost-savings from a flaxseed-based
treatment for hypertension. The analysis begins by assessing the proportion of individuals with
hypertension likely to adopt the flaxseed regimen. It then evaluates the impact of flaxseed
consumption on systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Next, data from the Canadian Health
Measures Survey, Cycles 5 and 6, are used to estimate the prevalence of hypertension and the
expected reduction in prevalence due to the flaxseed treatment. Finally, the potential reduction
in health care spending is calculated. To incorporate uncertainty, partial sensitivity analysis and
Monte Carlo simulations were utilized, varying the intake success rate and other model
parameters, respectively. The most conservative estimate suggests a potential health care cost-
savings of CAD 96,284,344 in Canada for the year 2020.