Report Says Diabetes Treatment Costs are 'an Economic Tsunami'

The Canadian Diabetes Association has said that the cost of diabetes treatment is expected to be $12.2 billion in 2010. This figure has risen from $5.9 billion from 2000 and includes direct expenses of treatment, supplies and medications for diabetic patients.

"If left unchecked, the economic burden of diabetes in Canada could escalate to nearly $17 billion by 2020, an increase of more than $10 billion from 2000, and the number of Canadians diagnosed with diabetes will have nearly tripled," said a released statement by Ellen Malcolmson, President and CEO of the Canadian Diabetes Association. "The results are a sobering reminder of the action required to reduce the burden of diabetes in Canada while improving the individual health for people living with the disease."

Some 2.5 million people are expected to be suffering from diabetes in the next year; up from 1.3 million in 2000. In a report, titled, "An Economic Tsunami: the Cost of Diabetes in Canada," the authors say that the massive increase in diabetes can be attributed to rising obesity rates, sedentary lifestyles, an aging population and changes in the ethnic mix of new immigrants.

The report says that the need of the hour is to manage the disease in a better manner and decrease hospitalization as well as medication costs.


Source-Medindia
RAS