TITLE:
Direct Costs of Diabetes Care in Pediatric Patients with Type 1 Diabetes in Greece
AUTHORS:
Feneli Karachaliou, Konstantinos Athanasakis, Charalabos Tsentidis, Maria Kitra, John Kyriopoulos, Kyriaki Karavanaki
KEYWORDS:
Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus, Economics, Cost
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Diabetes Mellitus,
Vol.4 No.3,
August
6,
2014
ABSTRACT: Background: Type 1
diabetes (T1D) is a chronic disease with increasing incidence and major impact
on the health care costs. Aim: To estimate the direct cost of pediatric T1D in
the Greek National Health System (NHS) and its distribution by service
category. Methods: This is a retrospective cost-of-illness study, focusing on
the direct costs from the healthcare system’s point of view. All patients aged 0
- 16 years, diagnosed with T1D, who were followed in the Diabetes Outpatients’
Clinic of the University Pediatric Department of one of the two main Pediatric
Hospitals in Athens, for a two-year period (1stJanuary 2011 to 31st December 2012) were included. Results:
Total diabetes-related direct costs per person-year were estimated at €2,712
(95% CI 2468 - 2956). Diabetes healthcare provider and education visits
including laboratory tests, accounted for only 7.6% of total costs. Cost for
hospitalizations was only 1.7%. Medication costs were 17% of total costs and
were the highest for multi-injection therapy. Supply costs accounted for 73.7%
of the total costs and were the highest for insulin pump therapy (p = 0.000).
12.4% of patients were admitted yearly for diabetes related cause and the mean
length of hospitalization was 0.18 days per person-year (95%CI: 0.05 - 0.3).
Conclusion: This is a preliminary study based on a single institution’s data,
which however constitutes a major referral center, thus dealing with a balanced
sample of the Greek pediatric diabetic population. Considering that standards
of diabetes care are common throughout the NHS, the management of patients in
our hospital represents the common practice for pediatric diabetes in Greece.
Data are suggesting that cost for hospitalization and outpatients’ care for T1D
patients followed in the public sector was rather low compared to other
countries, the medication cost was at similar or lower levels and the cost of
supplies was generally higher.