Estimating the Cost of Type 1 Diabetes in the U.S.: A Propensity Score Matching Method

PLoS One

David Taylor¹  Betty Tao²  Mark Atkinson³  Desmond Schatz⁴  Massimo Pietropaolo⁵ 

[1] CNA, Alexandria, Virginia, United States of America;Center for Health Research and Policy, CNA, Alexandria, Virginia, United States of America;Department of Pathology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States of America;Department of Pediatrics, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States of America;Departments of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States of America

关键词: Diabetes mellitus;    Indirect costs;    Death rates;    Health economics;    Critical care and emergency medicine;    Obesity;    Insulin;    Age groups;   

DOI  :  10.1371/journal.pone.0011501

学科分类：医学（综合）

来源: Public Library of Science

【 摘 要 】

Background Diabetes costs represent a large burden to both patients and the health care system. However, few studies that examine the economic consequences of diabetes have distinguished between the two major forms, type 1 and type 2 diabetes, despite differences in underlying pathologies. Combining the two diseases implies that there is no difference between the costs of type 1 and type 2 diabetes to a patient. In this study, we examine the costs of type 1 diabetes, which is often overlooked due to the larger population of type 2 patients, and compare them to the estimated costs of diabetes reported in the literature.Methodology/Principal Findings Using a nationally representative dataset, we estimate yearly and lifetime medical and indirect costs of type 1 diabetes by implementing a matching method to compare a patient with type 1 diabetes to a similar individual without the disease. We find that each year type 1 diabetes costs this country $14.4 billion (11.5–17.3) in medical costs and lost income. In terms of lost income, type 1 patients incur a disproportionate share of type 1 and type 2 costs. Further, if the disease were eliminated by therapeutic intervention, an estimated $10.6 billion (7.2–14.0) incurred by a new cohort and $422.9 billion (327.2–519.4) incurred by the existing number of type 1 diabetic patients over their lifetime would be avoided.Conclusions/Significance We find that the costs attributed to type 1 diabetes are disproportionately higher than the number of type 1 patients compared with type 2 patients, suggesting that combining the two diseases when estimating costs is not appropriate. This study and another recent contribution provides a necessary first step in estimating the substantial costs of type 1 diabetes on the U.S.

【 授权许可】

CC BY