Press Releases: Northwest
September 7, 2005
New study done in Northwest shows pre-diabetes is costly and a large heart-disease risk
Center for Health Research in Portland finds annual health care costs for patients with pre-diabetes are 31 percent higher than for patients with normal blood sugar levels
PORTLAND, Ore. – A nine-year study of 28,000 Kaiser Permanente Northwest patients in Oregon and Southwest Washington showed that the annual health care costs for patients with the highest pre-diabetes blood glucose levels were 31 percent higher than costs for patients with normal levels. These findings appeared in the September issue of Diabetes Care.
“Many of these costs were due to cardiovascular disease, which is expensive to treat but far less expensive to prevent,” says Gregory Nichols, PhD, an investigator at Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research (CHR) in Portland and lead author of the study. “These increased costs are seen in inpatient, outpatient, and pharmacy expenses.”
More than 18 million Americans have diabetes, a group of serious diseases characterized by high blood glucose levels that result from defects in the body’s ability to produce and/or use insulin. Diabetes can lead to severely debilitating or fatal complications, such as heart disease, blindness, kidney disease, and amputations. It is the fifth leading cause of death by disease in the United States. In recent years, the prevalence of diabetes has increased sharply, largely driven by the steep rise of obesity among Americans of all ages.
Pre-diabetes is defined as blood glucose levels that are higher than normal (an impaired fasting glucose, Ore. IFG, reading under 100 mg/dl) but not high enough for a diagnosis of diabetes (IFG of 126 mg/dl or higher). For the purposes of the study, Nichols and his colleagues at CHR identified three groups of patients – those with normal IFG readings, those with stage 1 pre-diabetes (IFG of 100-109 mg/dl), and those with stage 2 pre-diabetes (IFG of 110-125 mg/dl).
Results showed that the annual health care costs for patients with normal blood glucose levels who did not progress to pre-diabetes during the nine-year study were $3,799. The annual costs for those with stage 1 pre-diabetes were $4,580 and were $4,960 for those with stage 2.
“Results from the nationwide Diabetes Prevention Program,” says Nichols, “show that as many as 58 percent of people at risk for diabetes may be able to prevent or delay onset of diabetes with modest weight loss and regular exercise. So early intervention in people with pre-diabetes is very important for both health and cost reasons. Doctors should be testing patients regularly for elevated blood glucose levels and checking for other health problems in patients who are found to have pre-diabetes.”
The study was entirely funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK).Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research, founded in 1964, is a nonprofit research institute whose mission is advancing knowledge to improve health.
Kaiser Permanente is the nation’s leading integrated health plan, founded in 1945, and serving the health needs of 8.3 million people nationwide, including 470,000 in Oregon and Southwest Washington.
