A new analysis funded by Novo Nordisk’s National Changing Diabetes® Program, found that the cost of diabetes and pre-diabetes reached $218 billion in 2007, with the exploding number of cases of type 2 diabetes responsible for the majority of the costs.According to the study, diagnosed type 2 diabetes accounted for $174.4 billion of 2007 spending on diabetes and undiagnosed type 2 diabetes was responsible for $18 billion in costs. Spending on type 1 diabetes totaled $14.9 billion. Gestational diabetes was associated with $636 million in costs. Pre-diabetes, a state that affects one in four adults in the U.S. and is a precursor to diabetes, cost $25 billion. The analysis examined both direct medical costs, which accounted for $153 billion in spending, and $65 billion in indirect costs associated with absenteeism and disease-related productivity losses.
The average type 2 diabetic cost nearly $10,000 per year, while a pre-diabetic cost only $443 in additional medical costs. Many pre-diabetics can avoid type 2 diabetes with life style changes, thereby reducing much of the medical costs.
