Expenditure pattern on diabetes care: A Community based longitudinal study in resettlement colony of East Delhi

Background: Diabetes mellitus is one of the expensive diseases in the world. The cost of care in diabetes is high mainly because of its chronic nature and complications. Moreover, it affects economically productive section of society. But studies on economic impact of diabetes are very limited in India. The present aims to estimate the annual out of pocket expenditure of diabetic care among diabetics living in an underprivileged community of East Delhi. Methodology: A community based one year longitudinal study was conducted in Kalyanpuri area of East Delhi. All the diabetes patients (consecutive sampling) aged more than 25 years and who were the permanent residents of Kalyanpuri, attending the Diabetic Clinic of Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital in November-December 2014were selected for the study. A pre-tested semi-structured interview schedule was used as study tool. Each subject was followed up 3 monthly from January 2015-December 2015. Both direct and indirect expenditure were estimated. Results: Total 153 study subjects were selected out of which 2 migrated and 1 died. So, data from 150 study subjects were collected and analyzed. The Mean and median annual expenditure was Rs. 8,958 ±11,704 and Rs. 4,443 respectively. The mean per capita annual direct expenditure was estimated to be Rs 6,821 ± 9,832 and mean annual indirect expenditure was Rs. 2,137 ± 5,622. Inpatient treatment and medicine are two major heads of expenditure. Conclusion: Expenditure on diabetes care among diabetes patients living in underprivileged community was considerably high despite of having well-functioning government hospital in vicinity of study area