Hospital expenditure on treating complications of diabetes and the potential for deferring complications in Canterbury, New Zealand.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate annual expenditure by a major district health board in New Zealand on hospital admissions for treating the various complications of diabetes.


METHODS
Actual costs were analysed for 2005/06, for all inpatient hospital admissions in Canterbury, New Zealand, where diabetes was recorded as a primary or secondary diagnosis. Costs and lengths of stay for all such admissions were included for ICD-10 codes using the criteria from Australian studies of potentially avoidable hospitalisations. ICD-10 codes were used to identify the major types of complications of diabetes resulting in hospital admissions.


RESULTS
Total costs of all hospital admissions where diabetes was recorded as a primary or secondary diagnosis amounted to $10.1 million in 2005/06, and 9511 days stay in hospital; 69% of these costs were for admissions where diabetes was a secondary diagnosis, with the majority of such costs being for treatment of admissions for cardiovascular disease.


CONCLUSIONS
The results generally indicated that diabetes associated with hospital admissions is a major factor, which is still under-reported, and which involves considerable costs of treating the longer term consequences of diabetes. The largest proportion of these costs is for cardiovascular disease, where diabetes is the secondary diagnosis.
Sheerin
Ian
I
Department of Public Health and General Practice, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand. ian.sheerin@otago.ac.nz
D048909:Diabetes Complications / Q000191:economics* / Q000628:therapy; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000191:economics* / Q000628:therapy; D004469:Economics, Hospital; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D009520:New Zealand