Productivity Losses Due to Diabetes in Urban Rural China

Background: Productivity losses due to diabetes are increasing in China, but research about the impact of diabetes on productivity in urban and rural areas requires further in-depth study. This article provides the first estimate of the cost of productivity losses attributed to diabetes in individuals 20–69 years old in urban and rural areas of China. Methods: The human capital approach is employed to measure the productivity losses attributed to absenteeism, presenteeism, labor force dropout, and premature deaths due to diabetes of the 20–69-year-old population of males and females in urban and rural areas of China. Based on the life table modelling, we calculate the years of potential life lost and working years of life lost of people with diabetes. Results: In 2017, we estimated that there were 100.46 million people with diabetes, with the total cost of productivity losses being USD 613.60 billion, comprising USD 326.40 billion from labor force dropout, USD 186.34 billion from premature death, USD 97.71 billion from absenteeism, and USD 27.04 billion from presenteeism. Productivity loss was greater in urban (USD 490.79 billion) than rural areas (USD 122.81 billion), with urban presenteeism (USD 2.54 billion) greater than rural presenteeism (USD 608.55 million); urban absenteeism (USD 79.10 billion) greater than rural absenteeism (USD 18.61 billion); urban labor force dropout (USD 261.24 billion) greater than rural labor force dropout (USD 65.15 billion); and urban premature death (USD 147.90 billion) greater than rural premature death (USD 38.44 billion). Conclusions: Diabetes has a large and significant negative impact on productivity in urban and rural China. Productivity loss is significantly higher in urban versus rural regions. Further investment is required in the prevention, diagnosis, and control of diabetes in under-resourced health services in rural locations as well as in urban areas, where most diabetes cases reside. Specifically, targeted and effective diabetes prevention and management actions are urgently required.