Economic burden of diabetes mellitus in western India: a hospital based study

Background: Descriptive cost of illness study can provide an overall picture of diabetes in monetary terms in developing country, which may serve as a vital source of information for health care organizations and planning bodies to plan and prioritize local health policies and schemes. The aim was to explore cost description of diabetes in a tertiary care hospital in Anand district of Gujarat, India.Methods: This was an observational study with one year follow up. Ethical approval was taken from IEC. Patients were recruited and were divided into three categories according to duration of diabetes; newly diagnosed cases as category I, diabetes since last 5 year as category II and since last 10 years as category III. All these patients were followed up with 4 visits. Cost was calculated into three components; direct medical, direct non-medical and indirect cost. Descriptive and regression analysis was done using SPSS version 17.0.Results: Total 90 patients were analyzed after 12 patients were lost to follow up, 30 in each category. Mean total cost was found to be 12391.84 INR. Contributions from direct medical cost, direct non-medical cost and indirect cost were 74%, 2% and 24% respectively. Maximum cost incurred was due to medicine cost (44.14%) followed by complication cost (43.34%).Conclusions: Heavy economic burden highlights the urgent need for the health care organizations to plan and prioritize policies and accordingly in prevention and management of diabetes and its complications