Direct Costs of Diabetes Care in Pediatric Patients with Type 1 Diabetes in Greece

Background: Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a chronic disease with increasing incidence and major im-pact on the health care costs. Aim: To estimate the direct cost of pediatric T1D in the Greek Na-tional Health System (NHS) and its distribution by service category. Methods: This is a retrospec-tive 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 (1st January 2011 to 31st December 2012) were included. Results: Total di-abetes-related direct costs per person-year were estimated at €2,712 (95 % CI 2468- 2956). Di-abetes 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 admitte