Second study indicates benefit of risk-assessment and encouragement of lifestyle change
TUESDAY, Jan. 10 (HealthDay News) — Modeling suggests that a lifestyle intervention program could prevent thousands of cases of diabetes and save billions of dollars; and wide-scale implementation of evidence-based interventions may be able to curb diabetes and its complications, according to two studies published in the January issue of Health Affairs.
Xiaohui Zhuo, Ph.D., from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and colleagues projected the costs and benefits of a nationwide community-based lifestyle intervention program for the prevention of type 2 diabetes. The results indicated that the program would break even in 14 years, after accounting for all costs to the U.S. health care system. The program was projected to prevent or delay 885,000 cases of type 2 diabetes and produce nationwide savings of $5.7 billion within 25 years.
Deneen Vojta, M.D., from UnitedHealth Diabetes Prevention and Control Alliance in Minnetonka, Minn., and colleagues estimated that over the next decade approximately 40 million adults could have diabetes and 100 million could be diagnosed with prediabetes. They further noted that, in 2021, related health care spending could reach $512 billion per year. Suggested measures to implement evidence-based interventions that could curb diabetes and its complications included: new risk-assessment methods; enrollment in new care models to support lifestyle change; and novel programs encouraging lifestyle change through Medicare and Medicaid.
”Those working in health care also need concerted, broad-based national action to increase screening and diagnosis, improve the uptake of appropriate care, and design effective and evidence-based incentives to stimulate healthy behavior among at-risk populations,” Vojta and colleagues conclude.
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Abstract
A Nationwide Community-Based Lifestyle Program Could Delay Or Prevent Type 2 Diabetes Cases And Save $5.7 Billion In 25 Years
Xiaohui Zhuo1,
Ping Zhang2,
Edward W. Gregg3,
Lawrence Barker4,
Thomas J. Hoerger5,
Tony Pearson-Clarke6 and
Ann Albright7
1Xiaohui Zhuo (iip6@cdc.gov) is a health economist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in Atlanta, Georgia.
2Ping Zhang is a senior health economist at the CDC.
3Edward W. Gregg is the acting director of the Division of Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, CDC.
4Lawrence Barker is a senior scientist at the CDC.
5Thomas J. Hoerger is a senior fellow and director of the RTI-UNC Center of Excellence in Health Promotion Economics, in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.
6Tony Pearson-Clarke is a health writer and editor at the CDC.
7Ann Albright is director of the Division of Diabetes Translation, CDC.
Abstract
The increasing health and economic burden of diabetes has made preventing the disease a public health priority. But investing in such chronic disease prevention programs requires a long-term horizon because many years may be required for the downstream savings to fully offset the up-front intervention cost. Using a simulation model, we projected the costs and benefits of a nationwide community-based lifestyle intervention program for preventing type 2 diabetes. Accounting for all costs to the US health care system, our results indicate that the program would break even in fourteen years. Within twenty-five years, the program would prevent or delay about 885,000 cases of type 2 diabetes in the United States and produce savings of $5.7 billion nationwide. If restricted to people ages 65–84, the program would save $2.4 billion. Thus, implementing such a program nationwide would be an efficient use of health care resources, although it might be necessary for all health insurers to participate to share prevention costs. Our results also indicate that although a prevention program would lead to cost savings in both younger and older people, it would achieve greater health and economic gains if it were directed at people under age sixty-five.
From ADA/DiabetesPro
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