Consequences of diabetes cause considerable costs

Eye problems, kidney damage and Co: High costs for complications of diabetes

There are around seven million people with diabetes in Germany. The illness not only causes damage to health, but also considerable economic burdens. Researchers have now broken down the costs of causing the various complications of diabetes.

More and more people are suffering from diabetes

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 350 million people worldwide are currently affected by diabetes. According to a study, by 2025, it is estimated that as many as 700 million people will have diabetes. In Germany, too, the number of patients is increasing massively. This burdens the health system - also for financial reasons. Scientists at the Helmholtz Zentrum München have now broken down the costs of causing the various complications of type 2 diabetes. The results were published in the journal "Diabetes Care".

Diabetes can cause numerous complications. Researchers have now looked at the cost of these diseases. (Image: Printemps / fotolia.com)

The disease can cause numerous complications

According to estimates, around seven million people in Germany are affected by type 2 diabetes. The disease "can cause numerous complications. The likelihood of this is increased even in the pre-stage of diabetes, "writes the Diabetes Information Service Munich on its website.

Often diabetes causes diseases of the cardiovascular system over time, such as heart attack or chronic heart failure.

The nervous system is also affected.

Experts estimate that around one third of diabetics develop diabetic neuropathy, which may be accompanied by abnormal sensations, sensory disturbances, tingling in the limbs, numbness of the legs and arms, and severe pain in the area of ​​care of the affected nerve tracts.

Particularly often the supplying nerves of the feet are damaged, which can lead to the fact that the affected person develops a so-called diabetic foot. In the worst case, it requires an amputation.

Even eye conditions that can lead to blindness and kidney damage, which can cause kidney failure, are typical complications of diabetes.

Costs are borne by the company

Scientists at the Helmholtz Zentrum München have now examined the health insurance data of more than 300,000 people with diabetes and have broken down the costs of the various sequelae.

"We wanted to know how high the resulting costs are, which are borne by health insurances and thus by society", says first author Katharina Kähm, describing the approach of the study in a communication.

The doctoral student and her colleagues from the Institute of Health Economics and Management in Health Care (IGM) at the Helmholtz Zentrum München examined data from 316,220 people with type 2 diabetes from the years 2012 to 2015.

High health costs due to complications of type 2 diabetes

Based on this data basis, the researchers were able to determine the costs of the sequelae in detail.

Type 2 diabetes manifests itself in the majority only in old age. Accordingly, the authors provide a sample calculation, which assumes a man between 60 and 69 years.

This alone causes in the quarter in which the corresponding secondary disease occurs

• in case of eye disease (retinopathy) around 700 euros
• at blindness about 3,000 euros
• kidney damage about 3,400 euros
• at (dialysis-requiring) kidney failure around 23,000 euros
• at a diabetic foot around 1,300 euros
• in an amputation over 14,000 euros

Improvement of the prevention programs

"In addition, the median cost of cardiovascular disease ranges from 2,700 for angina pectoris to 20,000 euros for fatal ischemic complications," adds Michael Laxy, working group leader at the IGM.

"Even in the quarters after the first occurrence of these sequelae, the costs remain elevated."

According to the authors, their study is the first in such a size and in this level of detail. In the long term, it should lead to the improvement of the preventive care programs:

"The results show clinical and health policy makers the significant financial consequences of diabetes-related complications," said Prof. Dr. med. Rolf Holle.

"The study can therefore support the planning and prioritization of new prevention and treatment programs in the management of type 2 diabetes."

In the future, the experts want to investigate the economic implications of several simultaneously existing diseases. (Ad)