The high cost of diabetes

While direct expenditures on health care services related to diabetes were recently estimated to be $44.1 billion in the US, there is little information on the economic impact of the disease in Canada and its economic implications for the health care system.

In this issue of the CMAJ, Scot Simpson and colleagues report that medical costs incurred by 3.6% of people in Saskatchewan who had diabetes accounted for 15% of total provincial expenditures on hospital admissions, physician services and prescription drugs.

The authors used the province's health database to identify 38 124 people with diabetes, and linked this cohort to medical expenditures for diabetes and its complications. The authors estimate that the health care expenditure for the cohort was $134.3 million, and 36.4% of the diabetes-related expenditures were attributable to a major comorbidity, such as cardiovascular, renal or ophthalmic complications.

They warn that limitations of their study likely mean their findings underestimate total health care expenditures related to diabetes.

They add that targeted strategies to prevent the onset of diabetes could produce substantial savings, not to mention improved health for individuals.

p. 1661 The cost of major comorbidity in people with diabetes mellitus -- S.H. Simpson et al

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