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Diabetics visit OP more often

DUBAI - Nearly double the number of patients with diabetes visit the outpatient section in Abu Dhabi as compared to patients in the United States, according to a comparative study carried out by Health Authority of Abu Dhabi (HAAD).

According to the study, 14.5 per cent of patients visited the outpatient departments in HAAD hospitals as compared to eight per cent in the US. The study, however, found that the costs of care per patient in Abu Dhabi are lower than in the US. The total cost of treatment on patients in Abu Dhabi is $10,068 as compared $24,437 per patient in the US. The costs of drugs per patient stood at $708 in Abu Dhabi as compared to $2,845 in the US.

The study, which is a poster presentation at the ongoing World Diabetes Congress currently underway at the Dubai Convention Centre, was held to compare costs, complications and medical service use in patients with Type 2 diabetes in the emirate.

Results from the study will form future public health programme plannings.

From the year 2010 through March 2011 medical and claims database, HAAD identified 145,342 residents as having diabetes of which 71,887 had a claim for at least one anti-diabetic medication. A comparative study was done with patients from the US.

It also found that Abu Dhabi patients experienced less inpatient visits, more micro-vascular and less macro-vascular complications compared to the US.

Although the costs of care per patient in Abu Dhabi are lower than in the US, the prevalence of diabetes and associated complications add financial burden on the healthcare system in the emirate. The study suggested that this burden can be alleviated through effective preventive interventions and diabetes management programmes.

Diabetes is a growing global epidemic and cost burden. The prevalence of diabetes in the UAE is nearly 19 per cent.

Another similar study carried out by HAAD has suggested that the burden and costs of the complications in the UAE may even be higher than estimated. A cross-sectional survey of 150 patients in two hospitals to extrapolate the annual direct costs of diabetes mellitus and its complications found that the costs increased 2.2-9.4 fold compared with patients with no complications.

The prevalence of patients with complications in Abu Dhabi was 53.5 per cent as compared to 46 per cent in Abu Dhabi and 72 per cent in Europe. It was found that in Abu Dhabi, the presence of at least one diabetes complication associated diagnosis is associated with an approximate three-fold increase in annual costs of diabetes treatment, compared with patients with no complications.

asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com