Diabetes In Canada

ECONOMIC BURDEN

The economic burden of diabetes alone was estimated at $1.1 billion annually in 1993⁽¹⁸⁾. This is an underestimate of the true figure, because the economic costs of the complications of diabetes, such as cardiovascular disease and renal failure, were not included in these calculations.

A brief review of US studies is useful for comparison purposes⁽¹⁹⁾. Four studies during the 1980s in the United States estimated the costs of diabetes at between $17 and $23 billion annually (1990 US dollars). However, a 1992 US study published by the American Diabetes Association estimated costs at $91.8 billion annually when costs of illnesses associated with diabetes were included in the calculations⁽²⁰⁾. For example, diabetes is a risk factor for heart disease, therefore the costs for a proportion of people with heart disease were attributed to diabetes. Given that the Canadian population is approximately one tenth the size of the US population and has roughly similar prevalence rates of diabetes, the real economic costs of diabetes in Canada may be as high as (US) $9 billion annually (i.e., 10% of $91.8 billion).

With regard to the cost-effectiveness of prevention and control measures for diabetes, the Conference Board of Canada calculated that a 1% increase in the number of people in the Canadian population who were physically active would result in an expected annual saving of $877,000 (in 1993 constant dollars) in the direct costs of treating Type 2 diabetes⁽²¹⁾.

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