CDC Says Diabetes at "Epidemic" Level - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

Healthcare Financial Management, April, 2001

Healthcare providers should bolster services and evaluate the potential financial impact of a diabetes epidemic, in light of a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). According to the report, diabetes among adults increased by 6 percent in 1999, and by 33 percent between 1990 and 1998. Furthermore, the prevalence of obesity in adults, which is a major risk factor for diabetes, increased from 17.9 percent in 1998 to 18.9 percent in 1999. Between 1991 and 1999, that prevalence grew by 57 percent.

In announcing the CDC report, Jeffrey Koplan, MD, MPH, director of CDC, said, "This dramatic new evidence signals the unfolding of an epidemic in the United States.... If these dangerous trends continue at the current rates, the impact on our nation's health and medical care costs in future years will be overwhelming."

Currently, more than 16 million Americans have diabetes, and about a third of them do not know they have the disease. About 800,000 new cases of diabetes are diagnosed each year. According to the American Diabetes Association, diabetes cost the nation an estimated $98 billion in 1997--$44 billion on direct medical costs and $54 billion on indirect costs, including work loss, disability, and premature mortality. The total costs of diabetes are second only to cancer.

The rise in diabetes cases places increased financial risk on any provider that participates in prospective or capitation payment plans. The disease is a major contributor to serious health problems, such as heart disease, stroke, blindness, high blood pressure, kidney disease, and amputations, and also causes serious complications when patients have other ailments, pushing those patients into cost-outlier categories.

There is an opportunity to minimize the financial impact of the rising diabetes rate on one's facility, however. Frank Vinicor, MD, MPH, director of CDC's diabetes program notes, "Despite these dramatic increases, we are encouraged that maintaining healthy behavior...can help ease the burden of diabetes and may actually prevent its onset." Thus, financial managers should work with their clinical and outreach staff to evaluate the desirability of relatively inexpensive wellness programs.

The CDC published its findings in the February issue of Diabetes Care, a journal of the American Diabetes Association. For more information, including the report and geographic maps showing diabetes and obesity trends in the United States, go to http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/news/docs/010126.htm.>

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