Diabetes and pre-diabetes in USA accounted for $218 billion in costs in 2007, study shows

A new analysis found that the cost of diabetes and pre-diabetes in the USA reached $218 billion in 2007, with the exploding number of cases of type 2 diabetes responsible for the majority of the costs. The National Changing Diabetes Program (NCDP), a program of Denmark-based insulin giant Novo Nordisk, commissioned the analysis, which was funded by the company and is published on-line as a Web First article in Health Affairs. The work was carried out by researchers at The Lewin Group.

According to the study, diagnosed type 2 diabetes accounted for $174.4 billion of 2007 spending on diabetes and undiagnosed type 2 diabetes was responsible for $18 billion in costs. Spending on type 1 diabetes totaled $14.9 billion in 2007. Pre-diabetes, a state of elevated blood glucose that affects one in every four adults in the USA and is a precursor to diabetes, cost $25 billion. Gestational diabetes, which develops during pregnancy, was associated with $636 million in costs.

Diabetes 'burden' $700 for every man, woman and child