The cost of diabetes chronic complications among Iranian people with type 2 diabetes mellitus

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the cost of diabetes related micro- and macrovascular complications in Iranian people with type 2 diabetes mellitus. METHODS: In routine clinical practice, people with type 2 diabetes mellitus were assessed for 10 years at a diabetes care center. The type of medications and clinical data were extracted from patients’ documents. Mortality rate and the incidence of micro- and macrovascular complications recorded in patients’ documents were analyzed. Cost analysis was comprised of 1) para clinic costs as well as laboratory, medications, clinical visits and nonmedical costs 2) inpatient costs as well as hospital admission costs, disability, and mortality costs. RESULTS: From 1562 people with type 2 diabetes mellitus, a total of 1000 patients with mean duration disease of 11.2 years, who had completed information in their documents, were studied. All people were free from complications at baseline. Mean cumulative incidence of diabetes-related complications over 10 years were 10.9 ± 3.5%, 8.0 ± 3.1%, 4.6 ± 1.7%, 9.1 ± 3.6% and 2.3 ± 0.9% for peripheral neuropathy and diabetic foot ulcer, nephropathy, ophthalmic complications, cardiovascular disease and death, respectively. People with better glycemic control had less complication and also related expenditures. Average para clinic cost per patient was 393.6 ± 47.8 and average inpatient cost per patient was 1520.7 ± 104.5 USD. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrate considerable incidence of diabetes chronic complications and also high health care expenditure for related complications among our patients. As the number of people with diabetes continues to rise, early detection of the disease and implementation of timely and appropriate therapeutic strategies could decrease the burden of diabetes chronic complications and also huge related expenditures.