A new study has found that diabetes patients are spending twice the amount of money towards disease-related costs that people used to spend 20 years ago. An average diabetes patient spends at least $5,378 per year just to manage the disease.
Researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) compared the National Medical Expenditure Survey data from 1987, 2000-2001, and 2010-2011.
Based on the 1987 survey that involved more than 22,000 people, a diabetic spent at least $2,588 more on health care compared to those who don't have the disease. But 10 years later, the cost rose to $4,205 and became $5,378 after another decade.
Further analysis showed that 55 percent of the costs were for medications, 24 percent for inpatient visits, 15 percent for outpatient visits and six percent went toward emergency expenses. The researchers considered other factors such as the age, race, obesity and type of care.
"People need to be mindful about the substantial increase in the cost of diabetes, which has been partially fueled by the rising prices of newer drugs," said Xiaohui Zhou, study leader and a health economist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to Reuters.
The higher cost was attributed to the use of medication and the increasing price of the drugs. Zhou also added that most of the expenses were brought by complications of diabetes and that the treatments available today are more complicated than 20 years ago.
The researchers believe that it will be more beneficial if there more initiatives that focus on diabetes prevention instead of disease management.
"This growing trend of diabetes cost is simply unsustainable. Besides the efforts to bend the treatment cost, the efforts to reduce the number of future diabetes patients are imperative," Zhou said.
The study was published in the Jan. 15 issue of Diabetes Care.
