Diabetes is costing Americans $174 billion annually, a figure that has increased by 32 percent since 2002, according to a study commissioned by the American Diabetes Association (ADA). The ADA, leaders from the Congressional Diabetes Caucus, and diabetes experts discussed the economic impact of this new data during a congressional briefing January 23 on Capitol Hill in Washington DC.
The study reveals that the direct economic costs associated with diabetes have reached unprecedented levels. Medical expenditures of care for people with diabetes are estimated to be $116 billion, with a disproportionate percentage of the costs resulting from treatment and hospitalization of people with diabetes-related complications. The findings also suggest that one out of every five healthcare dollars is spent caring for someone with diagnosed diabetes.
"The findings reaffirm that diabetes is a public health crisis, and its implications are painful and far reaching," said Ann L. Albright, PhD, RD, president of Healthcare & Education for ADA. "This underscores the importance of early diagnosis and treatment. Diabetes becomes much more costly in financial and human terms when the disease is not properly treated."
The study also assessed the economic impact of indirect costs, which were estimated to be $58 billion when accounting for reduced productivity of both those in the labor force and unpaid workers, unemployment from disease-related disability, and increased absenteeism. Last year alone, diabetes claimed more than 284,000 lives. Considering that an additional 6 million people are believed to have diabetes but have not yet been diagnosed, the study estimates that the actual cost of diabetes may greatly exceed $174 billion.
"Diabetes plagues more than just the individual with the disease. It is common, it is costly, it creates numerous complications, and there is no cure. Until we start reversing current trends, through increased awareness, prevention and aggressive disease management, diabetes will continue to have an adverse impact on our society as a whole," said R. Stewart Perry, ADA's chairman of the board.
The annual estimated costs of diabetes are available for each state and congressional district, and can be accessed by visiting the ADA's website: www.diabetes.org/cost and using the cost calculator tool. Users will be prompted to enter the respective state and congressional district number to retrieve data for the area of interest.
