Abstract: Objective To study the economic burden of ischemic heart disease(IHD) and to examine the effects of contextual and individual determinants on economic burden of IHD in a rural area of Kunming.Methods Arepresen tative sample of 4 011 residents aged 18 years and over was selected from Guandu district.Information was obtained from a cross sectional questionnaire survey.Direct,indirect and intangible economic burdens of IHD were measured.The data was analyzed using multilevel linear model.Results The overall prevalence of IHD was 3.3% in the adults.The males had a higher prevalence of IHD than the females (3.8% vs 2.6%,χ²=2.36,P < 0.05).The disability adjusted life year (DALY)/1 000 population of IHD was 34.0,and the males had obviously higher DALY than the females(37.0 vs 28.6,t=3.67,P < 0.01).The per capita direct,indirect and intangible economic burden of IHD was 7 690.8,1 246.2,and 5 399.0 RMB yuan,respectively.The total economic burden of IHD was 63 852.3 yuan.The males had higher per capita direct economic burden and total economic burden of IHD than the females,whereas the males had a lower per capita intangible economic burden of IHD than the females(P < 0.01).The IHD patients with longer period of hospitalization and worse effect on household had higher probability of having higher economic burden.Living in a higher income village was associated with higher economic burden of IHD.Conclusion IHD is a serious disease for the rural residents and induces heavy economic burden in the study area.